Category: Forest Inventory & Analysis

FIA Update on Alabama’s Forests

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
In the forests of Alabama you’ll find longleaf pine woodlands, bottomland swamps, sinkholes, and springs. You’ll see fox squirrels, indigo snakes, gopher tortoises, and pitcher plants. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service collects field data on forest resources across the state, visiting around 700 of the more than 5,600…  More 

State Line Meeting with Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi

by Stephanie Laseter, R8-SRS Liaison  • 
On August 17 and 18, state foresters from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, along with their staffs and personnel from the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS), gathered in Biloxi, MS. This was the third State Line Meeting for state foresters Wade Dubea of Louisiana and Charlie Morgan of Mississippi, and the first for Alabama State…  More 

FIA Report on Oklahoma’s Forests

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Until 2009, the U.S. Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis had never surveyed Western Oklahoma. “Western Oklahoma has some forests, but very little timberland,” says SRS forester Kerry Dooley. Land that produces timber – at least 20 cubic feet an acre, each year – is considered timberland. Timberland is plentiful in Eastern Oklahoma, and FIA…  More 

City Trees in Houston

by Texas A&M and Texas Forest Service - adapted from news release  • 
The largest city in the largest continental state in America has an urban forest to match. And now, for the first time, information about Houston’s trees is available online. The My City’s Trees web application is a free tool that makes community tree data easily accessible to the public. The Texas A&M Forest Service has…  More 

Houston’s Urban Forests

by Teresa Jackson, SRS Public Affairs Specialist  • 
Urban forests offer a wide range of environmental services, such as stormwater management, air pollution mitigation, reduced air temperatures (Urban Heat Island mitigation), wildlife habitat, aesthetic appeal and visual barriers. Since 1930, the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has provided information on the amount, status, and character of forest land across…  More 

Sassafras and Laurel Wilt Disease

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
The scent of a crushed sassafras leaf is unforgettable – sweet, pungent, fragrant. If you have never plucked one of the leaves and rolled it around between your fingers, you should. “Sassafras is susceptible to laurel wilt disease,” says U.S. Forest Service research mathematical statistician KaDonna Randolph. “The disease has not reached the heart of…  More 

Bottomland Hardwoods of the Mid-Atlantic

by Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
A new U.S. Forest Service report characterizes the status and trends of bottomland hardwood forests across the mid-Atlantic region of North Carolina and Virginia. These forests are located in floodplains, bogs, swamps, and other lowland areas. SRS scientists Anita Rose and Steve Meadows summarized Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from 2002 to 2014 for…  More 

State Forest Resource Data Visualized

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, the nation’s forest census, collects and analyzes data on America’s forests. FIA produces yearly reports at the state level on: Status and trends in forest area and location; Species, size, and health of trees; Total tree growth, mortality, and removals by harvest and land-use change;…  More 

Southern Forest Products: An Economic Engine

by Zoe Hoyle, SRS Science Communications  • 
A storymap developed by USDA Forest Service researchers allows users to interactively chart the ebb and flow of forest products across the southern states. Using Forest Service Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data loaded onto Esri’s ArcGIS Online (AGOL) platform, Southern Forest Products – An Economic Engine, provides a constantly updated guide to southern timber product outputs…  More 

My City’s Trees

by Tom Brandeis, SRS Forest Inventory & Analysis  • 
The Texas A&M Forest Service has developed a web-based application, My City’s Trees, designed to give the public easy access to information from the urban forest inventories conducted by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. The application, hosted at the Texas Forest Info website, currently shows results from FIA’s first urban…  More