Sixth Forest Vegetation Simulator Conference; 2023 March 7-9; Fort Collins, CO

Abstract

The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a forest dynamics modeling system with geographic variants covering forested areas of the contiguous United States. FVS was developed in the early 1980s and is used throughout the United Sates for predicting forest development and the effects of alternative forest management actions. FVS variants are also used in Canada and Europe. The Sixth Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) Conference, held March 7-9, 2023, in Fort Collins Colorado, consisted of 29 offered presentations and two invited panel discussions organized into three main topic areas: Model Development (day 1), Project Application (day 2), and Model Evaluation (day 3). Presenters were invited to provide summaries of their presentations for inclusion in the proceedings, resulting in 21 submissions. Presentations represented a wide range of users - academic institutions, non-governmental organizations, Forest Service Research and the National Forest System, Natural Resources Canada, State agencies, and private consultants. The diversity of attendees was even greater, with the addition of members from other federal agencies, tribal governments, and forest industry. Many presentations described the use of FVS at the stand and landscape scales, and one of the panel discussions focused on carbon management and climate. Other topics including model calibration, growth and yield modeling, integration of tree-ring data, wildlife habitat management, testing effects of treatment alternatives, and general forest planning. Other presentations covered user interaction with the latest version of FVS and access to Forest Inventory and Analysis data. The conference concluded with a lively discussion on the future of FVS development.

Titles contained within Sixth Forest Vegetation Simulator Conference; 2023 March 7-9; Fort Collins, CO

• Evaluating long-term seedling growth across densities using Nelder plots and FVS in the Black Hills
• Utilizing FVS growth predictions for reforestation in Northern California
• An FIA-based imputation procedure to account for natural tree regeneration post-treatment in FVS
• Arcadian variant of the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS-ACD)
• Accessing and using Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data in FVS
• FVSOnline server software components, installation, and management
• A bottom-up approach for national-level projections of forest growth in Canada
• Climatic sensitivities derived from tree rings improve predictions of the Forest Vegetation Simulator
• Modeling outyear treatments for large-scale landscape restoration in FSVeg Spatial Data Analyzer
• Using FVS to update inventory data to improve prescribed treatments and timber sale decisions
• Using FIA data and FVS to develop yield streams and state-and-transition models for national forest planning
• FVS modeling for the Devils Hens Nest Vegetation Management Project
• Integrating wildlife habitat into a constrained optimization strategy on state-owned timberlands in North Carolina
• Simulating potential carbon sequestration of improved forest management in northeastern U.S. forests
• Automating high-resolution, large-extent FVS simulations for a carbon accounting protocol
• Development of carbon entity guidelines for wildfire and prescribed fire in the continental United States
• Impacts of precommercial thinning on observed versus FVS-projected diameter and height increments in the Inland Northwest
• Using FIA data and GY models for state-wide forest projections
• Assessment of crown base recession in uneven-aged ponderosa pine forest of Colorado and Arizona
• A reproducible workflow to refit FVS using the FIA Data Stream
• Power-user features of FVS and FVSOnline

Citation

Shaw, John D; Battaglia, Mike A.; Castle, Mark, [comps.]. 2024. Sixth Forest Vegetation Simulator Conference; 2023 March 7-9; Fort Collins, CO. Proceedings RMRS-P-81. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. n.p. https://doi.org/10.2737/RMRS-P-81