Forest biomass by component for the coterminous United States Forest Products Society International Convention June 20, 2010 Madison, WI Pat Miles Outline 1. FIA sample design 2. Biomass components pre-aug 2009 3. Biomass components post-aug 2009
Outline 1. FIA sample design 2. Biomass components pre-aug 2009 3. Biomass components post-aug 2009
EMAP grid EMAP grid approx 160,000 ac 27 FIA plots in each hex 1 plot for approx each 6000 acres (single intensity)
FIA plot grid Annual 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
FIA plot configuration 0.40 ha 14.63m 36.58m 120 o
FIA plots 300,900 plots for most recent inventories of which 117,875 are forested
FIA plot densities
FIA DataMart http://199.128.173.17/fiadb4-downloads/datamart.html
Outline 1. FIA sample design 2. Biomass components pre-aug 2009 3. Biomass components post-aug 2009
Pre Aug 2009 Biomass Components All live biomass - above-ground biomass (oven-dry weight) on trees 1.0 dbh or larger, from ground level to the top. Includes bark, stump, top and limbs but excludes foliage. Merchantable stem biomass central stem biomass (including bark) of a tree 5.0 inches DBH or larger from a 1-foot stump to a minimum 4-inch top d.o.b.
All live merchantable stem biomass Cull Cull Saplings
All live tree and sapling aboveground biomass Excludes only roots and foliage Cull Cull Saplings
Reasons for updating biomass components More components: roots stump bole tops and limbs foliage ability to split out bark from wood National consistency citations for specific gravity and bark volume by spp tops and limbs as proportion of bole
FIA regions have common national definitions for tree components but regional methods were used to estimate volume and biomass
Eastern FIA Gross Volume Eqns Gross cubic-foot volume models used by NRS and SRS Region Form of the model: Observed items: VOLCFGRS = f ( x1, x2,... xn ) ( x1, x2,... xn ) NE VOLCFGRS = x B x B x B 3 5 6 B = DBH 1 + B2 1 + B x 1 4 1 2 x =BL LS VOLCFGRS = 2 2 2 2 x 2 ( S 4 4 = DBH 0 + S1x1 + S2 + S3x1 + S4x1 h4 + S5h4 + S6h4 + 1 x 2 3 2 2 2 =SI S7x1 h4 + S8x1 h4 4)( E1 + E2x1 ) =BA h 4 where = predicted bole length = 4.5 + B (1 e Coefficients for: Stone s volume equation (Hahn 1984): S0 through S8 Raile s bark correction (Raile, unpublished): E1 and E2 Ek s height equation (Hahn 1984): B1 through B6 A CS VOLCFGRS = A 4 2 A3 x x 1 A = DBH 1( x2) (1 e ) 1 x 2 =SI A4 PS VOLCFGRS = A x 2 A3 x1 1 = DBH A1 ( x2) (1 e ) x 2 =SI SO VOLCFGRS = 2 x 1 = DBH C 1 + C2 ( x1 x2 ) x 2 =BL 1 ( B2x1 ) ) B3 x B4 4.0 1.00001 x 1 B5 x B6 3 x 3 Citation Scott, 1981 Hahn, 1984 Hahn & Hansen, 1991 Hahn & Hansen, 1991 Royer 2001 FIA is currently working to develop a national set of taper equations
Regional gross vol eqn comparison Best - chestnut oak (Hansen, 2002) Worst - black cherry (BA = 122.9, SI = 70.8) (BA = 113.9, SI = 50.1)
Avg softwood tree sound volume DBH
Softwood biomass: tops,limbs, and stump as a proportion of bole DBH inches
Jenkins biomass components softwoods by tree dbh hardwoods CM
Outline 1. FIA sample design 2. Biomass components pre-aug 2009 3. Biomass components post-aug 2009
National consistency Prior to April 2009 each FIA unit produced biomass estimates using regional methods. Biomass estimates were not always consistent with volume and carbon estimates. Now FIA units use Component Ratio Method (CRM) (Heath et al., 2009) 1) Bole - convert sound volume of wood in the bole to biomass using a compiled set of wood specific gravities (Miles and Smith, 2009) values and citations stored in REF_SPECIES and REF_CITATION tables of FIADB 2) Bark - on the bole using a compiled set of percent bark and bark specific gravities (Miles and Smith, 2009) values and citations stored in REF_SPECIES and REF_CITATION tables of FIADB 3) Tops and limbs - as a proportion of the bole biomass based on component proportions (Jenkins 2003) 4) Stump - based on equations in Raile (1982) 5) Roots - as a proportion of the bole biomass based on component proportions from Jenkins and others (2003).
Reporting biomass Biomass population estimates FIADB variables bole,top,stump,sapling, 1. All live tree and sapling aboveground wdld 2. All live merchantable bole 3. All live top and limb top 4. All live stump (ground to 12 inches) stump 5. All live belowground tree and sapling and woodland species bg 6. All live woodland species wdld 7. All live sapling sapling 8. Old regional method - All live tree and sapling aboveground regional_drybiot 9. Old regional method - All live merchantable regional_drybiom
Tree biomass on forestland Lake Tops and limbs States 317 million tons Merchantable stem biomass 1,247 million tons A lot of biomass, but to put it in perspective: Lake States tops and limbs are liquid fuel equivalent of about 1/10 th of U.S. annual gasoline consumption. Tops and boles together would be about ½ of annual U.S. consumption. 48 state AG forestland biomass 9 years equivalent.
Tops as proportion of bole
Top and limb biomass (dry tons) On timberland by EMAP hexagon 0.0-0.6 tons/acre of land 0.6 2.2 tons/acre of land 2.2 4.6 tons/acre of land 4.6 + tons/acre of land
www.fia.fs.fed.us
CITATIONS Hansen, M.H., 2002. Volume and biomass estimation in FIA: national consistency vs. regional accuracy Publication: In: McRoberts, Ronald E.; Reams, Gregory A.; Van Deusen, Paul C.; Moser, John W., eds. Proceedings of the Thrid Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Symposium; Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-230. St. Paul, MN: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station: 109-120 Heath, L.S; Hansen, M.H.; Smith, J.E.; Smith, W.B.; Miles, P.D., 2009, Investigation into Calculating Tree Biomass and Carbon in the FIADB Using a Biomass Expansion Factor Approach, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008; October 21-23, 2008; Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 1 CD. Jenkins, J.C.; Chojnacky, D.C.; Heath, L.S.; Birdsey, R.A. 2003. National scale biomass estimators for United States tree species. Forest Science. 49(1):12-35. Jenkins, J.; Chojnacky, D.; Heath, L.; Birdsey, R. 2004. Comprehensive database of diameter-based biomass regressions for North American tree species. GenRep. NE-319. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. Miles, P.D.; Smith, W.B. 2009. Specific gravity and other properties of wood and bark for 156 tree species found in North America. Res. Pap. 38. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Depart,ment of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station. 35p. Raile, G.K. 1982. Estimating stump volume. Res.Pap. NC-224. St.Paul, MN:U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station. 4 p.