Forest Inventory Data

Transcription

1 Forest Inventory Data Greg Reams FIA National Program Leader Washington, DC Jeff Turner Forester Southern Research Station Knoxville, TN

2 Agenda Brief History of FIA Current FIA Program Phase 1: Stratification Phase 2: Standard Ground Plots Phase 3: Forest Health Plots Statistical Reliability Requesting Data Web Retrievals

3 Brief FIA History Forest Survey began in the 1930 s Surveys were designed and implemented by regional offices of the US Forest Service Research division Individual States were assessed at various intervals, between 7-10 year periods or longer Emphasis was on timber supply Plots installed only on land deemed commercially viable for timber production Summary data of older periodic inventories available in hard copy pubs or PDF files

4 Current FIA Program Meeting demand for current, consistent data across nation Includes ecological attributes Annual inventories provide data from each State each year Eastern US States collected on a 5-7 year cycle Western US on a 10 year cycle Nationally consistent plot design Install plots on land with greater than 10% tree cover that is not developed for other uses

5 Phases Phase 1: FIA weights ground plots based on the National Land Cover Data (NLCD) land cover classification Phase 2: Standard ground plots representing approximately 6,000 acres each Phase 3: Forest health ground plots representing approximately 96,000 acres each

6 What is the National Land Cover Database (NLCD)? NLCD is: a land cover classification based on LANDSAT (30meter pixels) imagery and ancillary data. Produced by the Multi-Resolution Land Cover (MRLC) consortium. Available free from The MRLC is a consortium of the following agencies and programs: EPA NOAA USFS USGS LANDFIRE BLM NRCS NPS NASA USFWS OSM

7 YORK ROBESON CHESTER LANCASTER CHESTERFIELD MARLBORO DILLON DARLINGTON NLCD Example FAIRFIELD KERSHAW MARION LEE NEWBERRY FLORENCE RICHLAND Portion of South Carolina with NLCD land cover classification AIKEN LEXINGTON CALHOUN SUMTER CLARENDON WILLIAMSBURG GEORGETOWN ORANGEBURG BERKELEY BARNWELL BAMBERG DORCHESTER ALLENDALE HAMPTON COLLETON CHARLESTON Land Cover Developed, Low Intensity Deciduous Forest Grassland/Herbaceous Class Developed, Medium Intensity Evergreen Forest Pasture/Hay Open Water Developed, High Intensity Mixed Forest Cultivated Crops Developed, Open Space Barren Land (Rock/Sand/Clay) Shrub/Scrub Woody Wetlands Emergent Herbaceous Wetlands

8 Stratification NLCD land cover classes are grouped into a few strata: Forest Non-Forest Edge

9 Standard Ground Plots Ground plots are randomly distributed within a systematic hexagonal grid ~ 6,000 acres per hex

10 Plot Design Seedlings (< 1.0 inch) and saplings ( inches) are tallied on microplot (1/300 ac) Trees ( 5.0 inches) are tallied on subplot (1/24 acre each) Subplot: 24.0 ft radius Azimuth 1 2 = 360 o Azimuth 1 3 = 120 o Azimuth 1 4 = 240 o Macroplot: 58.9 ft radius Distance between subplot centers is ft horizontal Macroplot used in western US to tally very large diameter trees (1/4 acre each) Microplot: 6.8 ft radius Center is 12.0 ft horizontal at 90 o azimuth from the subplot center

11 Data Table Examples PLOT Contains attributes applicable to the entire plot LAT/LON location information CONDITION Plots can have multiple conditions Forest conditions delineated by ownership, forest type, stand size, stand origin (planted vs. natural) and stand density TREE Each tree is assigned to a condition Field crews collect species, dbh, height, etc. Trees are tracked through time to obtain growth, removal and mortality estimates

12 Condition Data What is the change in forest area? What are trends in tree density, biomass and carbon? The condition data can address questions about forestland area: How many acres are managed by public agencies? How many acres are in planted stands? What is the age distribution of the forest? What are the predominant forest types? How many acres were harvested since the last survey? How many acres had a weather event or insect attack?

13 Tree Data TREE data provides information such as: Number of live and standing dead trees by species Biomass by species group Growth volume by species Mortality volume by cause of death Removal volume by diameter class CONDITION and TREE data can be linked to obtain estimates like: Number of live trees by forest type Biomass on natural vs. planted stands Tree volume by stand age

14 Forest Health Plots One forest health ground plot approximately every 96,000 acres (1 of every 16 standard ground plots) Forest health plots collected in late May-early September (leaf on) Forest health indicators collected: Crown Measurements Lichens Down Woody Materials Vegetative Profile Soils Measurements Ozone Sites (off-plot)

15 Statistical Reliability Estimates at the county level often display high variance, especially small counties Standard ground plots generally achieve reliable estimates at the multi-county, sub-state and State levels Forest health data is designed for regional/national level analyses Latest FIA web tools provide sampling error

16 Requests by Organization for SRS FIA Data (2005) Other Federal 10% FIA 10% Other 2% NGO 6% NFS 2% Industry 5% State non-academic 14% Academic 33% Other FS 17%

17 Spatial Data Services Contacts National Coordinator and Northern Region: Elizabeth LaPoint Interior West Region: Southern Region: Ron Tymcio Sam Lambert Pacific Northwest Region: Dale Weyermann

18 FIA Data Web Links Go to Data Sets Then select Forest Inventory and Analysis data

19 Our Contact Information Southern FIA: FIA National Program Leader: Jeff Turner Greg Reams