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FOREST SURVEY METHODS USED IN THE USDA FOREST SERVICE
Citation:
Hazard, J. AND B. Law. FOREST SURVEY METHODS USED IN THE USDA FOREST SERVICE. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-89/065 (NTIS PB89220594), 1989.
Description:
There has been an increasing need for forest resource inventory data to contribute to various objectives of different agencies and organizations. Monitoring forest health is one area of interest for which existing forest survey data may be useful. There are many different sampling designs of forest resource inventories in existence. The key to retrieving and using this information is not whether the design is complex or simple, but whether ground plots are permanent and can be accurately remeasured over time. Those agencies installing permanent fixed or variable radius plots can provide useful information for monitoring forest effects. The forest Inventory and Analyses (FIA) survey system installs such plots. This report describes the sampling methodology of the FIA survey system and the National Forest System (NFS) inventories of the USDA Forest Service.