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The interpenetrating sample design has been selected for the USDA Forest Service's Annual Forest Inventory System. The advantages and disadvantages of this design are discussed by considering alternatives such as the formerly used periodic design, a concentrated grid design, and disturbance based sampling. Factors considered for each design include fulfilling 1998 Farm Bill requirements, relative cost, ease of implementation, and analysis options. Each design alternative has positive and negative attributes, but the interpenetrating design most clearly facilitates implementation of the new...

The objectives of the North Central Research Station, USDA Forest Service, in developing procedures for annual forest inventories include establishing the capability of producing annual estimates of timber volume and related variables. The inventory system developed to accomplish these objectives features an annual sample of measured field plots and techniques for updating data for plots measured in previous years. This paper describes and evaluates the feasibility of updating techniques and,compares the bias and precision of the annual estimates they produce. The analyses indicated that...

Nonlinear, individual-tree, distance-independent annual diameter growth models are presented for species in two ecoregions defined by R.G. Bailey in the northern Lake States and in parts of the central and southern regions of the U.S. The models were calibrated using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data from undisturbed plots on land classified as timberland across all ownership categories. The data were generally from stands of mixed age and mixed species. The dependent variable is average annual diameter growth and the independent variables include crown ratio, crown class, stand...

Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) is changing to an annual nationwide forest inventory. This paper describes the sampling grid used to distribute FIA plots across the landscape and to allocate them to a particular measurement year. We also describe the integration of the F1A and Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) plot networks.

Three annual inventory designs, a periodic design, and a periodic measurement with midcycle update design are compared using a population created from 14,754 remeasured Forest Inventory and Analysis plots. Two of the annual designs and the midcycle update design allow updating of plots using sampling with partial replacement procedures. Individual year and moving average estimates are determined. The moving average estimates are compared to both the population means of the most recent year used in the average, and to population averages covering the same period as the estimate. Comparisons...

The Southern Annual Forest Inventory System (SAFIS) is in various stages of implementation in 8 of the 13 southern states served by the Southern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service. Compared to periodic inventories, SAFIS requires more rapid generation of land use and land cover maps. The current photo system for phase one area estimation has changed little over the last four decades and provides area estimates within the precision requirements of the FIA program. A stated goal of the national FIA program is to eventually replace photo interpretation with digital satellite classific...

The 1998 Indiana/Illinois forest inventory (USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)) used Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data for stratification. Classified images made by the National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) stratified FIA plots into four classes (nonforest, nonforest/ forest, forest/nonforest, and forest) based on a two pixel forest edge buffer zone. Estimates based on twophase sampling for stratification were made at the county level. This procedure differed from methods used in previous inventories where stratification was based on the stereoscopic examination of...

The Annual Forest Inventory System. AFIS, was jointly proposed and developed in the early 1990s by the Forest Inventory and Analysis programs of the North Central and Rocky Mountain Research Stations of the USDA Forest Service and the Forestry Division of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. The objective of AFIS was to establish the capability of producing standard statewide inventory estimates on an annual basis. The context in which AFIS was proposed was defined by two crucial constraints: the average annual cost could be no greater than that of periodic inventories and the...

The effects of 2 years post-treatment of group selection and 2-aged timber harvests on woodland salamanders and mammals were assessed on stands in high elevation, southern Appalachian northern red oak (Quercus rubra)-flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum) communities, in the Nantahala National Forest. We collected 4 salamander species and 10 small mammal species. We detected no difference in woodland salamander relative abundance between timber harvests and uncut (control) stands. Similarly, relative abundance of all small mammal species, except masked shrews (Sorex cinereus), was...

In 1999, Maine became the first northeastern state to begin implementing the USDA Forest Service's annual inventory system as directed by PL 105- 185, the Agricultural Research, Extension, and Education Reform Act of 1998. The Maine Forest Service, in collaboration with Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the Northeastern Research Station of the USDA Forest Service is currently measuring Panel #1, a 20-percent component of the annual inventory design. This paper covers five major topics: the implementation plan, training and measurement progress, data analysis, reporting goals, and...