Effective Monitoring of Forest Change Using FIA Data

Ray Sheffield (Presenter), Southern Research Station, USDA Forest Service

A brief overview of the FIA program is presented. Several guiding principles to follow in the effective use of FIA data in the assessment of current forest resource status and change assessment are discussed. The importance of using FIA data at the appropriate scale is emphasized using examples of species occurrence and sampling error changes with increased scale. Examples of change assessment for forest resources in the South are provided.

Workshop II: Monitoring Forest Changes

Sustaining
Southern
Forests

a conference sponsored by the Southern Forest Resource Assessment