The Enhanced Forest Inventory and Analysis Program of the USDA Forest Service: Historical Perspective and Announcement of Statistical Documentation

نویسندگان

  • Ronald E. McRoberts
  • William A. Bechtold
  • Paul L. Patterson
  • Charles T. Scott
  • Gregory A. Reams
چکیده

among state and federal agencies. The FHM program focuses on assessing and monitoring the health and sustainability of the nation’s forests and consists of four primary activities: detection monitoring, evaluation monitoring, intensive site monitoring, and research on monitoring techniques. Together, these four activities permit predictions of where and how future ecosystems might change under various environmental and management conditions. In response to user concerns regarding the timeliness of traditional FIA estimates, in 1990, the North Central Research Station initiated a pilot study with the objective of annually producing statewide inventory estimates that were no more costly and no less precise than those obtained from periodic inventories in the year of their completion. In the mid-1990s, the Southern Research Station initiated a second pilot study with the objective of a 5-year cycle of complete remeasurement of all plots augmented with state financial support. In addition, two Blue Ribbon panels provided recommendations to the Forest Service regarding the scope and conduct of forest inventories. The 1992 report of the first Blue Ribbon Panel (American Forest Council 1992) recommended a nationally consistent approach to the collection, analysis, and reporting of forest inventory data, and the reports of the second panel (American Forest and Paper Association 1998, 2001) affirmed the recommendation of the first. The cumulative effect of the pilot studies and the Blue Ribbon Panel reports was passage of the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Farm Bill, US Laws, Statistics, etc., Public Law 105-185). The 1998 Farm Bill directed the Secretary of Agriculture to produce a strategic plan for forest inventory featuring an annual system, state reports every 5 years, a set of core variables with national definitions and measurement standards, and integration of the ground sampling components of the FIA and FHM programs. This legislation, together with the coalescing of the two pilot studies and national cooperation in standardizing inventories, resulted in an annual forest inventory program, designated Enhanced FIA. The Enhanced FIA program uses the ends-ways-means strategic planning model to emphasize and promote national consistency. Ends are the criteria that must be satisfied for the program to be characterized as nationally consistent; ways are the procedures that lead to achieving the ends; and means are the resources that are committed to the effort. The Enhanced FIA program is described in terms of six ends: End 1: A standard set of variables with nationally consistent meanings and measurements End 2: Field inventories of all forested lands End 3: Consistent estimation End 4: Satisfaction of precision standards End 5: Consistent reporting and data distribution End 6: Credibility with users and stakeholders These ends describe the major foci of the Enhanced FIA program and provide direction for methodological research. To assure that the six ends are achieved, 10 ways have been prescribed: Way 1: A national set of prescribed core variables with a national field manual that prescribes measurement procedures and protocols for each variable Way 2: A national plot configuration Way 3: A national sample design Way 4: Estimation using standardized formulas for sample-based estimators Way 5: A national database of FIA data with core standards and user-friendly public access (Mapmaker) Way 6: A national information management system Way 7: A nationally consistent set of tables of estimates of prescribed core variables Way 8: Publication of statewide tables of estimates of prescribed core variables at 5-year intervals Way 9: Documentation of the technical aspects of the FIA program including procedures, protocols, and techniques Way 10: Peer review of and public access to the technical documentation The result of the ends and ways is an inventory program with identifiably new features: (1) a nationally consistent plot configuration; (2) a nationally consistent sample design for all lands; (3) annual measurement of a complete systematic sample in each state; (4) reporting of data or data summaries within a prescribed interval after completion of designated proportions of plot measurements; (5) provision for multiple estimators for combining data for multiple panels and for techniques for updating information; (6) state inventory reports every 5 years; and (7) integration of the ground sampling components of the FIA and FHM detection monitoring activity. Documentation, review, and publication of the conceptual and technical features of the Enhanced FIA program as prescribed by Ways 9 and 10 contribute to accomplishment of End 3, consistent estimation, and End 6, credibility with users and stakeholders. In particular, the purposes for publishing the statistical documentation are fourfold: 1. To ensure a common understanding and practice among the regional FIA programs 2. To facilitate development of the national program including the national information management system 3. To provide a defensible statistical basis for the sampling and estimation components of the program 4. To promote credibility with users and stakeholders Although the primary intended audience for the documentation is the national FIA program itself, the program’s users and stakeholders also may find it useful for understanding FIA methods. To the extent possible at the present time, the documentation addresses the full range of conceptual issues, technical details, and statistical techniques for sample-based estimation. The four sections that follow provide previews of the technical chapters of the documentation.

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تاریخ انتشار 2005