Forest Health Indicators

Forest Health Indicators
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 24
Release: 2002
Genre: Forest health
ISBN:

"Forest Inventory and Analysis. The Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program is the Nations continuous forest census. Since 1930, we have collected, analyzed, and reported information on the status and trends of Americas forests: how much forest exists, where it exists, who owns it, and how it is changing growing, dying, or being harvested. In response to widening customer interests, the FIA Program is developing a core program that will be implemented in the same manner on all U.S. forest lands. It includes sampling an extended suite of forest health indicators. The purpose of this brochure is to describe these health indicators: what we are measuring, why we believe these measurements are important, how we collect and interpret the data, and examples of what we have found to date. The FIA indicators discussed in this brochure are: crown condition, ozone injury, tree damage, tree mortality, lichen communities, down woody debris, vegetation diversity and structure, soil condition.

Forest Health Monitoring

Forest Health Monitoring
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2005
Genre: Forest health
ISBN:

The Forest Health Monitoring Program's annual national reports present results from forest health data analyses focusing on a national perspective. The Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Temperate and Boreal Forests are used as a reporting framework. This report has five main sections. The first contains introductory material. The next three sections, S2Landscape Structure, S3 S2Abiotic and Biotic Factors, S3 and S2Forest Conditions, S3 contain results of data analyses. Some of the indicators discussed use data collected from ground plots. These include ozone bioindicator plants; changes in trees (crown condition, mortality, and stand age); and soils (forest floor depth). Other indicators or indicator groups use data about insects and diseases, and remotely sensed or ground-based data about distance to roads, forest edge, interior forest, drought, fire, and air pollution (sulfates, nitrates, and ozone). Identifying patterns and observing possible relationships is an important part of national level analysis and reporting. The fifth section S2Integrated Look at Forest Health IndicatorsS3 presents results of analyses designed to evaluate whether or not individual indicators or linear combinations of indicators discriminate between crowns in poor condition and crowns not in poor condition.

Analyzing Forest Health Data

Analyzing Forest Health Data
Author: William Dwight Smith
Publisher:
Total Pages: 40
Release: 2005
Genre: Forest health
ISBN:

This report focuses on the Forest Health Monitoring Programs development and use of analytical procedures for monitoring changes in forest health and for expressing the corresponding statistical confidences. The programs assessments of long-term status, changes, and trends in forest ecosystem health use the Santiago Declaration: S2Criteria and Indicators for the Conservation and Sustainable Forest Management of Temporate and Boreal ForestsS3 (Montreal Process) as a reporting framework. Procedures used in five aspects of data analysis are presented. The analytical procedures used are based on mixed estimation procedures. Examples using the indicators are included, along with a clear link to the analytical procedures used (1) estimating change over time within groupsestimation of growth, harvest, mortality, and crown condition; (2) testing for differences in change over time among groupsfoliar transparency; (3) estimating change using covariatesimpact of drought on change in foliar transparency; (4) estimating plot values for unmeasured yearscomparison of observed and predicted (Best Linear Unbiased Predictions) values of foliar transparency, dieback, and total volume; and (5) estimating tree heightsexamples of using estimated tree heights to estimate tree volume.

Use of Ancillary Data to Improve the Analysis of Forest Health Indicators

Use of Ancillary Data to Improve the Analysis of Forest Health Indicators
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 52
Release: 2013
Genre: Forest health
ISBN:

In addition to its standard suite of mensuration variables, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service also collects data on forest health variables formerly measured by the Forest Health Monitoring program. FIA obtains forest health information on a subset of the base sample plots. Due to the sample size differences, the two sets of variables have traditionally been analyzed separately. However, the analysis of forest health indicator data can occur in conjunction with not only other stand characteristics (mensuration variables such as live-tree volume), but also with a plethora of ancillary information such as climate data and satellite imagery. This document is designed to help people interested in using auxiliary information in the analysis of the forest health indicators. Readers are initially treated to topics related to exploratory data analysis. This introductory content is followed by presentation of various statistical methodologies that may be employed; each section provides empirical analyses and discussion of the technique being presented. To cultivate a common theme throughout the document, carbon attributes of coarse woody debris (i.e., downed deadwood of a minimum size) is used as the forest health variable of interest; however, the underlying concepts can be applied to analyses of other variables as well.

Use of Ancillary Data to Improve the Analysis of Forest Health Indicators

Use of Ancillary Data to Improve the Analysis of Forest Health Indicators
Author: Southern Research Station
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 62
Release: 2015-06-26
Genre:
ISBN: 9781508580799

In addition to its standard suite of mensuration variables, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service also collects data on forest health variables formerly measured by the Forest Health Monitoring program. FIA obtains forest health information on a subset of the base sample plots. Due to the sample size differences, the two sets of variables have traditionally been analyzed separately. However, the analysis of forest health indicator data can occur in conjunction with not only other stand characteristics (mensuration variables such as live-tree volume), but also with a plethora of ancillary information such as climate data and satellite imagery. This document is designed to help people interested in using auxiliary information in the analysis of the forest health indicators. Readers are initially treated to topics related to exploratory data analysis. This introductory content is followed by presentation of various statistical methodologies that may be employed; each section provides empirical analyses and discussion of the technique being presented. To cultivate a common theme throughout the document, carbon attributes of coarse woody debris (i.e., downed deadwood of a minimum size) is used as the forest health variable of interest; however, the underlying concepts can be applied to analyses of other variables as well.