Treesearch

Estimates of forest land area are derived both from national-level forest inventories and satellite image-based map products. These estimates can differ substantially within subregional extents (e.g., states or provinces) primarily due to differences in definitions of forest land between inventory- and image-based approaches. We present a geospatial modeling approach for redefining satellite image-based pixels to meet inventory definitions. We compare resulting estimates of forest land area for six test states - Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, New York, North Carolina, and Oregon - using...

Past studies of forest disturbance traditionally have focused on biomass loss, e.g., blowdown in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, gypsy moth infestation, the impacts of Hurricanes Hugo and Katrina. Using FIA data and satellite imagery, this study examined a region of the country that is simultaneously experiencing biomass loss due to oak decline and biomass gain from afforestation of agricultural lands by eastern redcedar, following change to nonagricultural land use. This paper examines the increase in eastern redcedar in southwestern Missouri between 1985 and 2007. After...

In September 2003, Hurricane Isabel made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane. As it moved inland, with sustained wind speeds of 37 to 69 miles per hour (59 to 111 km per hour) and gusts up to 91 miles per hour (146 km per hour), the hurricane caused widespread damage throughout Virginia and is a plausible explanation for adverse changes observed in tree crown condition since the hurricane. On average, trees measured before and after the hurricane showed a significant increase in foliage transparency. Increases in foliage transparency were greatest for loblolly pine,...

Population growth and urban expansion have resulted in the loss of forest land. With growing concerns about this loss and its implications for global processes and carbon budgets, there is a great need for detailed and reliable land use change data. Currently, the Northern Research Station uses an Annual Inventory design whereby all plots are revisited every 5 years and land use change matrices are estimated using a mapped plot design. These methods have great potential for providing the needed land use change data; however, for many states in the Northern region, these data will not be...

There has been considerable research concerning the extent and effect of urbanization and fragmentation and the importance of monitoring current and potential magnitudes of change is recognized. However, there are limited guidelines for interpreting fragmentation data or for their application for analysis and statewide planning efforts. In this study we take a first step toward developing a state-level analysis of urbanization and fragmentation that addresses three categories of information. Example maps, tables, and analyses are drawn from New York, Maryland, and Delaware. Landscape...

Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), and Vermont (VT) are three of the four most heavily forested states in the United States. In these states, we examined how land-use change, at the Anderson Level I classification, affected regional forest carbon using the 30-m Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium 1992/2001 Retrofit Land Cover Change product coupled with county-level forest carbon stock densities and changes based on U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis data during the 9-year period. Results indicate that about 1,100 km2 of forests were newly developed from other...

The Utah Department of Natural Resources' Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR) placed Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis) on their Sensitive Species Tier II list due to declining populations and suspected local extirpations throughout the state. It is thought that the decline in burned coniferous forest has reduced the amount of suitable habitat for these birds, which are known to be closely tied to disturbed landscapes. The UDWR has identified several key components of Lewis Woodpecker habitat using an Ecological Integrity Table (EIT). An EIT identifies "key ecological attributes" such...

Landsat images have been widely used for assessing forest characteristics and dynamics. Recently, significant progress has been made towards indepth exploration of the rich Landsat archive kept by the U.S. Geological Survey to improve our under standing of forest disturbance and recovery processes. In this study, we used Landsat images to map forest disturbances at biennial intervals from 1984 to 2007 for the State of Mississippi. Forest Inventory and Analysis plot data were used to characterize and validate the mapped disturbances. These products were used to produce multi-county forest...

The North American Forest Dynamics (NAFD) Program is assessing disturbance and regrowth in the forests of the continent. These forest dynamics are interpreted from per-pixel estimates of forest biomass, which are produced for a time series of Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 7 Enhanced TM Plus images. Image data are combined with sample plot data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program using Random Forests, a tree-based estimation method implemented here in the R statistical environment. The NAFD approach is based on a sample of image Path/Rows, resulting in most...

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a national system of forest growth models maintained by the USDA Forest Service. It is the official tool for stand growth projection on National Forest lands, but it is also used widely on other ownerships. Model extensions and post-processors permit FVS users to perform a broad range of functions, including silvicultural manipulations, wildlife habitat analyses, and fuel treatment evaluations. Because FIA data were made available in FVS-ready format through the FIA Mapmaker interface, an increasing number of users have been using FVS as their tool...