Remote sensing and geospatial analysis research is a fundamental component of modern-day forest monitoring and analyses. Using satellites or instruments on aircraft to capture data on physical characteristics from a distance allows information to be collected consistently at large scales across landscapes. When merged with ground data, such as that from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program’s plots, the status and trends of natural resource conditions can be identified and used to improve management. It also allows for the cost-effective detection of impacts and threats from fire, insects, disease, and other natural processes.

The Forest Service Monitoring, Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis Research Program supports forest inventory monitoring and analysis by collecting, analyzing, and sharing data to track land use/land cover change and disturbance and apply an array of geospatial datasets. Additionally, the program provides tools to support small area estimates for localized analysis to increase understanding about the effects of change on important resources such as wildlife, biodiversity, water, outdoor recreation, wilderness, and ecosystem services.

The Forest Service invests in this work because:

• Monitoring land use and land cover change with remote sensing allows information across vast landscapes to be collected in a highly integrated, efficient manner to support the monitoring of all lands. Collecting, evaluating, and publishing data about U.S. forests and grasslands is one of the core functions of the Forest Service, and the data derived from remote sensing is essential for these analyses.
• Monitoring disturbance using historical Landsat imagery allows analysts to characterize active disturbance regimes and monitor recovery.
• Though Forest Inventory and Analysis program data tracks broad-scale, long-term changes to forest conditions, finer scale and faster detection of forest changes is possible through remote sensing. This supports land management policy and decision-making and provides additional support to sustainability reporting, EPA and USDA Greenhouse Gas reporting, and the congressionally-mandated Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment reports.
• Understanding and combatting the impacts of climate change requires harnessing remote sensing and geospatial technologies to collect high resolution data that better characterizes the complex structure of forest resources. Increasing the measurement of the forest’s vertical structure through cutting-edge 3D detection technologies helps scientists better estimate carbon, improve characterization of wildlife habitat, and understand the inherent stress and mortality risks triggered by various agents including fire, insect, diseases, and competition.