Forest health monitoring: 2002 national technical report
Abstract
The Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) Program’s annual national technical report presents results of forest health analyses from a national perspective using data from a variety of sources. This annual report focuses on “Criterion 3—Maintenance of Forest Ecosystem Health and Vitality” from the “Criteria and Indicators of Sustainable Forestry of the Santiago Declaration” as the reporting framework. The report is composed of five main data sections and two appendices. The “Introduction” provides background information about FHM, details about the conceptual approach to the report, and details about data used in the analyses. The next three sections each focus on a specific indicator from criterion 3. The first indicator section contains analyses of abiotic, biotic, and anthropogenic disturbances including drought, hurricanes, tornadoes, fire, insects and diseases, introduced species, and land development. The second indicator section contains analyses of air pollution data including nitrate and sulfate wet deposition data and ozone data. The third indicator section contains analyses of tree health data including tree mortality, crown condition, and damage. The final data section is a multivariate analysis, providing an integrated presentation of the data used in the report. Two appendices contain details about the analyses methods and summary data tables.