You are here:
FOREST INVENTORY AND ANALYSIS - US FOREST SERVICE EASTWIDE DATABASE
Description:
Periodic forest inventories are conducted for every State in the United States. In the East, these inventories are usually conducted every 5 to 15 years. Inventory findings are published in a series of statistical and analytical reports produced by USDA Forest Service regional experiment stations. However, many forest inventory data users require unpublished information that can be produced from the data collected in State inventories. Special information needs include: 1. Standard tables for geographic areas other than those published 2. Resource data that are consistent for all States 3. Projections of timber resources based on various assumptions and models 4. Information about specific conditions and species needed for detailed analyses. An effort to provide consistent Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data throughout the East, has been the creation of the Eastwide Data Base (EWDB) for Eastern FIA plot data. Each FIA project produces a set of data files for the most recent inventory of each State in its area of responsibility. All the files are written in the same format and contain all the data items needed to produce the core tables, plus other data items that all four projects collect. The EWDB contains all the data needed to run the Timber Resource Inventory Model (TRIM). In the past, special data requests have been handled differently by each of the four FIA projects, depending on the type of request and each projects data processing capabilities. It has been particularly difficult to analyze data from more than one FIA project because of inconsistencies in data collection and processing methods.
