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Applications of North American Forest Dynamics technology within the Forest Inventory and Analysis program

Gretchen Moisen, USFS - FIA Interior West, gmoisen@fs.fed.us (Presenting)
Sean Healey, USFS - FIA Interior West, sphealey@fs.fed.us
Mark Nelson, USFS - FIA Northern, mdnelson@fs.fed.us
Randy Morin, USFS - FIA Northern, rsmorin@fs.fed.us
John Shaw, USFS - FIA Interior West, jdshaw@fs.fed.us
Will McWilliams, USFS - FIA Northern, wmcwilliams@fs.fed.us
Rachel Riemann, USFS - FIA Northern, rriemann@fs.fed.us
Brett Butler, USFS - FIA Northern, bbutler@fs.fed.us
Jock Blackard, USFS - FIA Interior West, jablackard@fs.fed.us
Sam Goward, University of Maryland, sgoward@geog.umd.edu
Warren Cohen, USFS - PNW, warren.cohen@oregonstate.edu
Jeff Masek, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, jeffrey.g.masek@nasa.gov

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the USDA Forest Service collects data annually on the status and trends in forested ecosystems nationwide. These inventory data have traditionally been used to support estimates of forest population totals over large geographic areas, and recent emphasis has been placed on producing broad-scale maps of numerous forest characteristics to make these extensive forest resource data more accessible and useful to a larger and more diverse audience. While spatial depictions of current forest attributes is an improvement in reporting on the status of the nation’s forests, an important component of monitoring is gaining a clear understanding of what has happened in the past. Reconstructing historical trends in forest disturbance using forest inventory data alone is hampered by inconsistent sampling schemes and plot designs, varying definitions, gaps in plot distributions, as well as irregular and sometimes non-existent temporal sampling. Additional information is needed to adequately depict the forest disturbance and recovery history over the last thirty years. The North American Forest Dynamics project, a joint venture between the North American Carbon Program and FIA, is a Landsat-based change project characterizing historic forest disturbance and recovery. Work is underway to involve the larger FIA community and develop standard tools for analyzing both historical and future trend that will have national application. Here, we describe a variety of local, state, and regional analyses currently being conducted in diverse ecosystems across the country.


NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Active Awards Represented by this Poster:

  • Award: NNX08AI26G
    Start Date: 2008-02-12
     
  • Award: NNG05GE55G
    Start Date: 2005-02-08
     

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