Tag: FIA

Improving hurricane assessments with FIA data

by Mei Geller, SRS Science Communications Intern  • 
In October of 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall and left a trail of damage of over six million acres of forest and ten billion cubic feet of timber across Alabama, Florida, and Georgia.   Timber is a critical part of the economy in all three states, so measuring damage to forested land was vital for the…  More 

Defining the U.S. land base in support of the Resources Planning Act Assessment

by Stephanie Siegel, USDA Forest Service Contract Science Writer  • 
By analyzing non-Federal land use trends, USDA Forest Service researchers, including Mark Nelson of the Northern Research Station, Kurt Riitters of SRS, and others from across the agency, found that developed land use in the South nearly doubled over the past 30 years, from 25.3 million acres in 1982 to 45.6 million acres in 2012. Their…  More 

New Series of Science Updates on NTFPs From Trees

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Trees provide food, medicine, and other things that people need. USDA Forest Service researcher Jim Chamberlain developed factsheets for eight species: Eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra) Fraser fir (Abies fraseri) Noble fir (Abies procera) Pawpaw (Asimina triloba) Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) Pinyon pine (Pinus edulis) Sassafras (Sassafras albidum) Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) These trees provide fruit…  More 

A Yearly Health Checkup for U.S. Forests

by Lars Pomara, Eastern Threat Center  • 
Every year, the USDA Forest Service Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program tracks changing forest conditions, including national assessments as well as focused regional analysis. The resulting report is the only national summary of forest health undertaken on an annual basis. Forests constantly change as a result of tree growth and mortality, weather events and climate…  More 

Hill Demonstration Forest Joins Experimental Forest Network

by Ivan Garcia, SRS Science Communications Intern, and Jennifer Moore Myers, SRS Science Communications  • 
The USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station and the North Carolina State University College of Natural Resources recently signed an agreement adding NC State’s Hill Demonstration Forest to the SRS Experimental Forest Network. The Hill Demonstration Forest covers more than 2,600 acres in the Carolina Slate Belt and has a variety of forest types and…  More 

Fourth Inventory of U.S. Virgin Islands’ Forests

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
The forest and urban inventory in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) is expanding. Through its Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA), the USDA Forest Service has collected data in the USVI since the mid-1990s. FIA data on trees, soils, and other forest characteristics have been critical in establishing a baseline and understanding trends of forest…  More 

Experimental Forest Network is Expanding

by Jennifer Moore Myers and Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
USDA Forest Service scientists, technicians, and professional support will soon be devoting more time, energy, and expertise to the Southern Experimental Forest Network. Beginning in 2015, Stephanie Laseter was tasked with initiating and developing the network, along with Jim Vose and Jim Guldin. “When we put out the call for detailers, we got an awesome…  More 

FIA Stakeholders Meeting

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Across the nation, USDA Forest Inventory and Analysis collects data on forest ecosystems, including soils, microbes, land ownership, carbon, invasive plants, and of course, trees. Every two years, experts from the U.S. and beyond gather to share their knowledge. The 2019 FIA Stakeholders Science Meeting was held in Knoxville, Tennessee from November 19-21. The National…  More 

FIA Data Inform Studies on Land Use Conversions, Markets, and More

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Strong forest markets protect forests by reducing conversion of forests to other land uses, according to a recent study. The study uses data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program. “Across the Southeast and the rest of the U.S., FIA provides detailed observations of every aspect of the forest resource,” says John Coulston, a USDA…  More 

Experimental Forest Network in Action Mode

by Sarah Farmer, SRS Science Communications  • 
Nineteen USDA Forest Service experimental forests grace the South. Each was established to solve a specific natural resource problem, and some are nearing a century old. Pressing natural resource problems at that time included naval pitch pine stores and reforesting vast cutover lands. In 2015, SRS began creating a network for data, ideas, people, and…  More