Inventory, Monitoring, and Analysis

Effective stewardship of U.S. forests and rangelands relies on solid data and information about the status of resources. Inventory and monitoring science from the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) provides these foundational data and tools. Researchers collect, analyze, and share data to track the health, biomass, extent, and ownership of U.S. forests and rangelands. They also integrate and synthesize information to increase understanding about the effects of landscape and climate change on important resources such as carbon, wildlife, forest products, biodiversity, urban forests, water, outdoor recreation, wilderness, and ecosystem services.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program maintains the largest continuous body of forest inventory data in the world. These data are the basis for land management policy and decision-making, extensive research on forest health and conditions, and national assessments that evaluate current and future conditions of U.S. forests and grasslands including sustainability reporting, EPA and USDA greenhouse gas reporting, the congressionally-mandated Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment reports, as well as international reporting (e.g., Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Forest Resource Assessment).