U.S. Department of the Interior
Date of this Version
2006
Abstract
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) does not have a consistent internal program or source of vegetation data to use for strategic level planning, such as in resource management plans. This technical note discusses and evaluates the potential of the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program to assist the BLM in filling this data gap. The FIA program is the Forest Service’s national program for collecting and reporting information on status and trends in forested ecosystems. The FIA is considered here because it is the only standard, nationwide, systematic assessment of forest land available. The technical note poses five questions about the use of FIA data by the BLM for purposes such as strategic planning, the use of FIA spatial products, modeling or predicting areas at risk of disturbance from fires, insects, or disease, and assessing the extent of weeds or exotic species. The technical note then discusses the uses for which the FIA data would be meaningful and the uses for which extra effort would be required.
Comments
Published by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior, April 2006.