The national forest inventory of the United States of America

Abstract

The mission of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to conduct the national forest inventory of the United States of America for purposes of estimating the area of forest land; the volume, growth, and removal of forest resources; and the health of the forest. Users of FIA data, estimates, and related products include land managers, policy and decision-makers, forest industry, environmental organizations, and university researchers. To accomplish its mission, the FIA program has established a sampling design with an intensity of approximately one permanent plot per 2,400 ha across the entire country. Depending on the region of the country, each plot is remeasured at invervals of five or 10 years. The program releases data annually and reports estimates at the county level for each state every five years.

Citation

McRoberts, Ronald E. 2008. The national forest inventory of the United States of America. Journal of Forest Science. 24(3): 127-135.