United States

Department of

Agriculture

Forest

Service

Forest Inventory And

Analysis 1999 Business

Summary
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Contents

Page

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1

1999 Program Highlights .................................................................................................................. 2

Outputs and Products ............................................................................................................. 2

Program Changes................................................................................................................... 3

Program Resources ................................................................................................................ 4

State Partner Contributions .................................................................................................... 6

1999 Regional Highlights .................................................................................................................. 9

Pacific Northwest (West Coast) ............................................................................................. 9

Interior West .......................................................................................................................... 9

North Central ....................................................................................................................... 10

Northeast.............................................................................................................................. 10

South .................................................................................................................................... 10

National Office .................................................................................................................... 11

Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability .......................................................................................... 12

Grants and Agreements.................................................................................................................... 13

Comparing 1999 FIA Accomplishments With Our 1998 Goals ...................................................... 14

2000 FIA Program Direction ........................................................................................................... 15

Long-Term Strategic Direction ........................................................................................................ 17

Conclusions ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Appendix ......................................................................................................................................... 19

Glossary of Terms Used in Report Tables ........................................................................... 19

Tables (1-4) .......................................................................................................................... 21

INTRODUCTION

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of

the USDA Forest Service provides the information

needed to assess the status, trends, and sustainability

of America’s forests. This report, which summarizes

program activities in fiscal year 1999 (October 1,

1998, through September 30, 1999), gives our customers and partners a snapshot of past activities,

current business practices, and future program directions. It is the second in our series of annual reports

designed to increase our accountability and foster

performance-based management of the FIA program.

(Note: This business report does not include statistical

information about the forests of the U.S.; if you are

interested in such information, please contact the

appropriate regional or national FIA office listed on

the back cover of this report.)

The FIA program collects, analyzes, and reports

information on the status and trends of America’s

forests: how much forest exists and where, who owns

it, and how is it changing, as well as how the trees and

other forest vegetation are growing and how much has

died or been removed in recent years. This information can be used in many ways, such as in evaluating

wildlife habitat conditions, assessing sustainability of

current ecosystem management practices, monitoring

forest health, and supporting planning and

decisionmaking activities undertaken by public and

private enterprises. The FIA program combines this

information with related data on insects, diseases, and

other types of forest damage to assess the health and

potential future risks to forests. The program also

projects what forests are likely to be like in 10 to 50

years under various scenarios. This information is

essential for evaluating whether current forest management practices are sustainable in the long run, and

whether current policies will allow our grandchildren

and their grandchildren to enjoy America’s forests as

we do today.

1

Based on partner and customer feedback to our first

business report in 1998, we made the following

changes for the 1999 report:

❐ Moved the detailed financial and performance

summary tables to the back of the report, and

added summary graphics to the body of the report.

❐ Added a discussion and summary table showing

our investments in extramural research through

grants and agreements, with specific attention to

research in remote sensing applications.

❐ Added a summary of how the FIA program

addressed Criteria and Indicators of Sustainability.

❐ Addressed the merger of the plot component of

the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program

with the FIA program. Starting in 2000, FIA

annual business reports will include financial and

accomplishment summaries for this enhanced FIA

program. This 1999 report is the last to focus

strictly on the “old” FIA program.

❐ Added a section dealing with long-term goals and

performance measures as required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA).

Originally, we proposed changing the name of the

new FIA program to “Forest Inventory and Monitoring” (FIM) to reflect our changes and the incorporation of the plot component of FHM. However, based

on feedback from partners and customers who opposed losing the “brand recognition” associated with

the FIA name, as well as some concern over negative

implications of the word “monitoring,” we have

chosen to retain the name “Forest Inventory and

Analysis.”
1999 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

Outputs and Products

The FIA program produced 91 publications in 1999,

four more than in 1998. The 1999 publications included 1 State statistical report, 3 State analytical

reports, and 10 timber product output reports (table 1

in the appendix). We were active in 21 States in 1999

(fig. 1), visiting 9,573 sample plots corresponding to

7.8 percent of our base grid of sample plots. The FIA

sample population of interest currently includes 95

percent of the forest lands of the U.S. or all forested

lands except national forests in Oregon, Washington,

and California, which are inventoried by the respective national forest managers. At the end of 1999, 21

percent of the Nation was covered by the new annual

FIA program. Figure 2 shows the total acres as well

as forest acres inventoried annually in 1995-1999.

The dramatic increase in acres inventoried in 1999

shows the effect of our transition to an annual inventory, which covers more of the country (but at a lower

level of precision) each year.

Figure 1.—States with fieldwork,

1999.

Puerto Rico

Hawaii

Alaska

FIA Design

Periodic

Annualized

2

FIA staff made over 130 presentations at various

meetings of resource professionals, private landowner

associations, industry groups, and scientists. We

continued to develop our Internet-accessible web

pages for all regional FIA units as well as a national

homepage. On our homepage, we posted documents

for review and directed users to our online databases

and other resources.

We worked closely with the White House to write the

forest section of “Designing a Report on the State of

the Nation’s Ecosystems,” a prototype for a national

annual report on the status and trends of the Nation’s

forest, cropland, and coastal marine environments.

Work continued on a new national database for the

Resource Planning Act (RPA) 1997 Assessment,

which combines FIA data with other data to provide a

complete snapshot of the status of U.S. forest resources as of 1997. The 1997 RPA database and our

Timber Product Output (TPO) database were made

available on our national web site in 1999.
Table 1 shows some comparisons across FIA regional

units in the rates, cost, and performance of implementing the FIA program. The figures for cost per

plot include the entire Federal program cost, including planning, data collection, data management and

analysis, reporting, and management. Average Federal

cost per plot across all regional units in 1999 was

$2,844/plot, down from $2,932/plot in 1998. Costs

ranged from about $1,800 per plot in the Southern

U.S. (where crews work 12 months per year due to

modest terrain and moderate weather, and where

States contribute significantly to the cost of conducting fieldwork), to $3,700 per plot in the Interior West

(where field seasons are shorter due to harsh weather

and where access is more difficult), to over $7,600 per

plot in the Pacific Northwest (reflecting the higher

costs of fieldwork in Alaska, where the most efficient

means of data collection often involves use of helicopters to fly crews to sample locations). Nationally,

the program measured approximately 7.8 percent of

field sample locations in 1999, up from 6.9 percent in

1998, ranging across the country from 2.3 percent in

the Northwest to 11.6 percent in the South. This

variation reflects both historical differences in Federal

budget allocations by region as well as differences in

the willingness of non-Federal partners to contribute

funds to support the program; it is expected to even

out as we approach full funding for the FIA program.

Program Changes

In 1999, the FIA program continued the changes

mandated by the Agricultural Research, Extension,

and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-

185). We delivered to Congress a Strategic Plan for

Forest Inventory and Monitoring as required by the

law, which described steps, costs, and timelines for

changing to the new inventory system. This plan was

3

Figure 2.—Total acres and forest acres inventoried/year, 1995-1999.

1999 figures show effect of annual inventory

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

400,000

450,000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Total Forest
written with extensive input from a variety of partners, which resulted in some key changes, such as

including State Foresters and their staffs in all levels

of direct FIA program management and creating

regional and national FIA user groups to systemize

the inclusion of customer feedback in determining

future FIA direction.

The Strategic Plan called for a total program budget

of $82 million per year to deliver a federally funded

program meeting the full objectives of the legislation.

This represented an increase of approximately $45

million above the level of funding available in 1999

(factoring in anticipated contributions from State and

Private Forestry and the National Forest System of the

Forest Service). However, in discussions with our

partners, we identified an acceptable, lower cost

alternative calling for reduced annual sampling of 10

percent of all sample locations per year in Western

States and 15 percent per year in Eastern States, with

full reporting at 5-year intervals. Any State would

have the option to contribute the resources necessary

to bring the program up to the full sample intensity of

20 percent per year. The east-west split was a compromise to address the higher cost of sampling in the

Western States due to difficulties of access.

The Strategic Plan also addressed integrating the

Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program with the

FIA program. FHM is a Forest Service - State partnership that reports on status and trends in forest ecosystem health. It includes a plot sampling component

similar to FIA in concept, with a broader suite of

forest health indicators measured on a smaller sample

of plots. In 1999, we agreed to merge the plot component of FHM with the FIA program, creating an

enhanced FIA program that now includes three

sample levels: Phase 1 consisting of remote sensing,

phase 2 consisting of the original set of FIA plots

(approximately one plot per 6,000 acres), and phase 3

consisting of a subsample of FIA plots measured for a

broader suite of indicators (approximately one sample

location per 94,800 acres). The remaining components of the FHM program, including aerial damage

surveys, evaluation monitoring, and intensive site/

long-term ecological monitoring, will continue as a

separate but related FHM program. Starting in 2000,

FIA will be managed as a single program for all three

phases. The current 1999 annual report includes

information for only the phase 1 and 2 portions of the

program; starting in 2000, we will include information for phase 3.

In 1999, we continued to move towards increasing

national consistency. A core field manual for phase 2

plot measurements was implemented along with

annual inventory in Maine in April 1999, and will be

implemented in all other regions of the country as

each FIA regional unit begins its next State. A permanent standing team will keep the manual current and

is working to incorporate the existing core phase 3

indicators and to develop core quality assurance

procedures. Other technical teams are working on

developing core information management systems,

compilation and analysis procedures and algorithms,

remote sensing and image analysis procedures, and

sample design documentation. In 1999, we developed

and began to implement a single core sample grid for

phase 2 and phase 3 plot locations. This grid provides

a standardized systematic approach, based on an

intensification of the FHM grid, with a constant

sampling intensity of about 6,000 acres per phase 2

field plot. We expect that the increased consistency

from this core program, when completed, will save

approximately $750,000 per year in analysis time for

internal and external users who aggregate data across

administrative boundaries. Individual regions or

States will be able to add to the core program to

address local needs.

Program Resources

Federal appropriated funding for FIA increased by

$3,944,912 from $19,825,000 in 1998 to $23,796,912

4
5

in 1999 (table 2 in the appendix). This is approximately 40 percent of the total Federal funds of $58.9

million in 1999 dollars needed to fully fund the

Federal share of the proposed 10 percent/15 percent

base Federal program. This funding was augmented

by a total of $3,478,669 contributed by various other

Forest Service (mostly National Forest System regions) and external sources, plus $667,504 brought

forward from fiscal year 1998, for a total 1999 available funding level of $27,943,085. The Federal funds

available make up approximately 47 percent of the

funds needed to implement the base Federal program.

Of the funding available, approximately 80 percent

was spent in direct support of FIA activities; 17

percent was spent on indirect costs charged by Research Stations (down from 18 percent in FY 1998);

and 3 percent was carried forward to fiscal year 2000

(fig. 3). Figure 4 shows the appropriated and total

funding available for FIA from 1995 to 1999, as well

as the projected future total funding needed to deliver

the 10 percent/15 percent base Federal program.

Across FIA regions, cost and productivity figures vary

because of the cyclical nature of the current inventory

system and because of differences in operational

methods between units. Rates of indirect costs range

from about 11 to 17 percent across the country,

reflecting differences in both sources of funding as

Figure 3.—1999 expenditures by category.

EOY Balance

3%

Salary

52%

Travel

8%

Equipment & Other 

Direct

12%

Grants

8%

Indirect

17%
well as Station policies. For example, some Stations

assess different rates of indirect costs for Federal and

non-Federal funds. The Washington Office has a 78-

percent rate of indirect cost because its FIA budget

includes the U.S. Department of Agriculture overhead

assessed to the entire FIA program.

FIA program staffing consisted of 296 Federal person-years of effort in 1999 (table 3 in the appendix),

down from 307 Federal person-years in 1998. This

decrease reflects an increase in the participation of

State crews in field data collection in the Southern

FIA unit. Of the Federal FIA employees, 51 percent

were involved in the supervision and collection of

field data, 35 percent in analysis and information

management, 5 percent in techniques research, and 9

percent in program management and administration

(fig. 5).

State Partner Contributions

The complete FIA program required by Congress is

envisioned to be a Federal-State partnership, with

both partners contributing resources to accomplish the

work. We have agreed that the base Federal share of

this program is an annual inventory program that

collects data from 10 percent of sample locations in

the Western U.S. and 15 percent of the sample locations in the Eastern U.S. on an annual basis, with

reports for all States produced at 5-year intervals.

6

Figure 4.—Appropriated and total funds available, 1995-1999+.

$0

$10,000

$20,000

$30,000

$40,000

$50,000

$60,000

1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

$ thousands

Appropriated Total

Total funding required in future years to 

deliver the base federal FIA program by 

2003
State partners at their discretion may choose to contribute the resources needed to bring the FIA program

up to the full 20-percent measurements per year

described in the law. Additionally, or alternately, State

partners may choose to contribute resources for other

purposes that add value to the FIA program, such as

by intensifying the base FIA sample location grid to

support analysis at finer spatial resolution; by funding

additional types of measurements on FIA sample

locations; or by providing analyses or reporting

beyond that provided by FIA. The willingness of

partners to contribute resources demonstrates the

inherent value of the FIA program.

7

Figure 5.—Federal person-years by category.

The following tabulation lists those States that have

chosen to contribute resources to the implementation

of the FIA program, either to achieve the 20-percent

program or to add value in other ways. These

reources include staff time, vehicle use, office space,

equipment, travel costs, and other non-cash items that

support or add value to the FIA program. Contributions are valued in terms of what it would cost the

Federal FIA staff to provide the same service, which

may not necessarily be the same as the actual cost to

the State making the contribution. Cash contributions

to FIA units from States are documented in table 2.

Overall, States contributed $3,177,600 in in-kind

resources towards implementing the Strategic Plan

and $1,408,289 for additional FIA-related activities

that add to the value of the program:

Fieldwork

51%

Image analysis

7%

Administration

9%

Techniques 

Research

5%

Analysis

14%

Information 

Management

14%
Partner In-kind contributions Value added

to the base program contributions

Northeast

 Maine Forest Service $ 459,600

North Central

 Illinois Department of Natural Resources $ 19,000

 Indiana Department of Natural Resources $ 33,000

 Iowa Department of Natural Resources $ 17,000

 Kansas Forest Service $ 18,000

 Michigan Department of Natural Resources $ 402,000

 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources $ 121,000 $ 547,289

 Missouri Department of Conservation $ 72,000 $ 60,000

 Nebraska Forest Service $ 7,000

 North Dakota Forest Service $ 4,000

 South Dakota Division of Resource

 Conservation & Forestry $ 10,000

 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources $ 55,000 $ 250,000

 TOTAL, NORTH CENTRAL $ 758,000 $ 857,289

South

 Alabama Forestry Commission $ 690,000

 Georgia Forestry Commission $ 366,000

 Kentucky Division of Forestry $ 160,000 $ 278,000

 South Carolina Forestry Commission $ 140,000 $ 173,000

 Tennessee Division of Forestry $ 347,000

 Virginia Department of Forestry $ 251,000 $ 100,000

 TOTAL, SOUTH $ 1,954,000 $ 551,000

Pacific Northwest

 Oregon Department of Forestry $ 6,000

 GRAND TOTAL, ALL REGIONS $ 3,177,600 $ 1,408,289

8
1999 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

The following section presents general information

on the types of activities completed in each part of the

country in 1999. For more detailed information on

results, accomplishments, and impacts, please contact

the respective FIA unit.

Pacific Northwest (West Coast)

In 1999, the Pacific Northwest Research Station unit

continued periodic inventory fieldwork in Alaska and

Oregon—the fifth year of installing permanent forest

inventory plots in southeast and south-central Alaska

in cooperation with the Alaska Region of the Forest

Service. The Alaska inventory is being conducted

consistently across all ownerships. We began the

ground plot phase of a remeasurement project in

beetle-killed spruce stands on the Kenai Peninsula

that will provide data for a comparison of the extent

and condition of the forest from 1987 to 1999.

The final periodic inventory in Oregon was completed

with fieldwork in eastern Oregon timberlands and

juniper lands. We initiated a study with the Forest

Health Protection Staff of the Pacific Northwest

Region of the Forest Service to test the use of low

elevation photography and videography for inventorying the juniper woodlands in eastern Oregon. We also

completed a comparison of land use change over 30

years in western Oregon in cooperation with the

Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon

Department of Agriculture.

We held our second user group meeting in Portland,

Oregon, in August 1999, focusing on presenting and

discussing options for moving to the annual forest

inventory approach. We also attended the annual

meeting of the Pacific Islands Committee of the

Western Council of State Foresters to discuss how the

national inventory program relates to the needs of the

Islands. The group developed a plan to move toward

implementation of the FIA program in Hawaii and the

Pacific Islands.

Analysis in 1999 focused on evaluating methods and

issues related to non-timber variables such as coarse

woody debris and understory vegetation. These two

variables are being considered for adoption as national variables and are essential components of

habitat suitability, carbon sequestration, fire hazard,

and biodiversity. The PNW unit produced 19 publications in 1999, mostly papers in peer-reviewed journals

and conference proceedings.

Interior West

The Rocky Mountain Research Station FIA unit

continued periodic inventory fieldwork in Wyoming,

South Dakota, and New Mexico, including national

forest lands in these States through agreement with

National Forest System (NFS) Regions 1, 2, and 4.

We produced a number of reports specific to individual national forests, demonstrating the usefulness

of FIA data to national forests for strategic planning

and resource characterization. We conducted a research study in cooperation with Utah State University to develop models for forest inventory variables

as functions of satellite-based information for mapping and stratification. The Rocky Mountain unit

produced four publications in 1999 including an

analytical report for the State of Utah, the first FIA

report that includes data collection and analysis for all

forest lands regardless of ownership or reserve status.

The Rocky Mountain Research Station also supports a

mathematical statistics research unit in Fort Collins,

Colorado, which conducts research on new inventory

methods aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness of forest inventory across the United States, with

9
particular reference to the FIA program. In 1999, this

unit produced eight publications including six in peerreviewed journals. Topics included annual FIA,

remote sensing, surveys of rare species, and estimation procedures using FIA data. Other unit accomplishments include conducting a major cooperative

study with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Minnesota Department of Natural

Resources to better integrate inventory methods;

organizing a national meeting of biometricians to

consider short-term use of moving averages for

annual FIA estimates; developing an extensive statistical simulation population to bench-test methods that

integrate time-series of annual FIA data; and working

with an interagency team of scientists and Forest

Service managers to design inventory and monitoring

approaches for public lands in the Western U.S.,

including a strong FIA component.

North Central

The North Central Research Station FIA unit conducted annual inventory fieldwork in Indiana, Iowa,

Minnesota, and Missouri. The North Central unit is

the first to complete the transition to annual inventory; all inventory conducted by NCFIA beginning in

1999 will be done using the annual approach. We

focused the entire unit on meeting the annual inventory requirements of the Farm Bill by rewriting our

charter (research work unit description) around the

annual approach. We led the national effort to develop

the first county-level database of timber product

output (TPO) information in the country in support of

the 1997 RPA. We continued collaborative research

with the University of Minnesota and with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on methods for

an annual forest inventory system, including cooperative research into k-Nearest Neighbor techniques and

other uses of satellite imagery for producing forestnonforest maps. We attended the long-standing annual

meeting of the NC user group in Madison, Wisconsin.

10

In 1999, the North Central unit produced 17 publications including State analytical reports for Kansas and

North Dakota.

Northeast

The Northeastern Research Station FIA unit completed periodic fieldwork in New Jersey and began

periodic fieldwork in Delaware, Maryland, and West

Virginia. These will be the final States inventoried

under the periodic system. We also implemented

annual inventory fieldwork in Maine in cooperation

with the Maine Forest Service, and we were the first

unit to use the National Core Field Guide in an operational mode. The Northeast unit participated in a

multi-agency assessment of the Delaware River Basin

and continued planning for the implementation of the

next National Ownership Study, scheduled to begin in

2001. We conducted several studies integrating

satellite imagery with ground data to look at forest

fragmentation and coverage in new England as well

as forest cover change in Maryland. The unit produced 12 publications in 1999 including five State

timber product output reports.

South

The Southern Research Station FIA unit completed

periodic inventory fieldwork in Tennessee, continued

periodic inventory fieldwork in North Carolina and

Alabama, implemented annual fieldwork in Tennessee

and Kentucky, and continued annual inventory fieldwork in Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina.

The Southern program continued to provide national

leadership in developing and maintaining World Wide

Web applications including the national FIA

homepage and the online databases for State inventories, the Resource Planning Act, and Timber Product

Output data. We initiated an extramural remote
sensing proposal competition, in cooperation with the

National Center for Air and Stream Improvement

(NCASI) and the national FIA office, to generate

fresh ideas for how we might use modern remote

sensing technology to either generate new products

demanded by customers or to increase the efficiency

of our current program. We attended approximately

six different regional user group and partner meetings,

mostly focused on logistic details of cooperative

implementation of annual FIA. The unit produced 30

publications including one State statistical report and

five State timber product output reports.

National Office

The National Office of the FIA program provides

coordination, oversight, and guidance to the FIA field

units engaged in implementing the enhanced FIA

program. In 1999, we organized, facilitated, and

documented two FIA Executive Team meetings, three

FIA Management Team meetings, one national FIA

technical workshop, and dozens of briefings for

internal and external partners, customers, collaborators, and supporters. We organized an internal research proposal competition to award funds to units

for applied research aimed at increasing the use of

satellite imagery and other remote sensing tools, and

11

we collaborated with the Southern FIA unit in establishing an external competition in cooperation with

the National Center for Air and Stream Improvement

(NCASI) to solicit outside proposals for improving

our use of remote sensing.

In 1999, we continued to enhance the national FIA

web site maintained on behalf of the FIA program by

the Southern FIA unit. We added a section describing

the current status of FIA program implementation,

and we started an online “scrapbook” showing examples of uses of FIA data geared towards national

forests to demonstrate how our information is used at

a sub-State level.

National Office staff also participated in many national and international activities involving the FIA

program. We continued to prepare the 1997 Resource

Planning Act (RPA) report, and we collaborated in

preparing the Vice President’s Report Card on the

Environment. We completed U.S. submissions to the

United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) for inclusion in the FAO Global Forest Resource Assessment 2000. We organized a forest

inventory study group for North America sponsored

by FAO, and we provided technical assistance to the

Government of Argentina and to U.S. Agency for

International Development staff in Panama.
CRITERIA AND INDICATORS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Forest monitoring is key to achieving sustainability over the long term. Monitoring provides the quantitative

measures needed to ascertain if our current policies and practices are improving, maintaining, or threatening

forest sustainability. The Forest Service is committed to using the Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators of

Sustainability (C&I) for both international reporting and for communicating with U.S. partners. The 67 Indicators are grouped into 7 Criteria that describe key biological, socioeconomic, and institutional dimensions of

forest sustainability.

FIA is the main program in the United States for providing statistically reliable data on many of these Indicators

at the regional and national scale. For each of the seven Criteria, the following tabulation shows the total number of corresponding Indicators for that Criterion, the number of Indicators expected to be fully or largely

addressed by FIA at the State level, and the number of Indicators for which FIA will provide some but not all

information. As shown below, FIA is heavily oriented towards the first five biological Criteria, providing some

or most information about 26 of the 28 Indicators in these Criteria. FIA is not designed to provide substantial

information about socioeconomic or institutional Criteria. The Indicators addressed by FIA are:

Criterion Number of Indicators Indicators partly

Indicators addressed addressed by

 by FIA FIA

I. Conservation of biodiversity 9 5 4

II. Maintenance of productive capacity of

forest ecosystems 5 4 1

III. Maintenance of forest ecosystem health

and vitality 3 2 1

IV. Conservation and maintenance of soil and

water resources 8 3 3

V. Maintenance of forest contribution to global

carbon cycles 3 3 0

VI. Maintenance and enhancement of longterm multiple socioeconomic benefits 19 2 7

VII. Legal, institutional, and economic framework 20 2 1

—- —- —-

 TOTAL 67 21 17

12
GRANTS AND AGREEMENTS

Each year, FIA units enter into various grants and cooperative agreements with partners to accomplish specialized work in support of the FIA mission. In some cases partners provide expertise that is not available within the

FIA program; in other cases they share the workload. Table 4 in the appendix lists the major grants and agreements funded in FY 1999.

Many of these grants and agreements relate to conducting applied research and development into the use of

advanced remote sensing and image processing technology for either increasing the efficiency of the FIA

program or for developing new products to offer our customers. In 1999, we awarded $735,564 to fund 16

agreements with 14 institutions for research and development along these lines. This investment is in addition to

our own internal research and development efforts. We are presently drafting a white paper that will summarize

FIA experience and research to date with remote sensing.

The remainder of table 4 shows the $1,550,585 we awarded to fund 18 agreements with 15 institutions for

collecting, analyzing, reporting, and distributing FIA information. Together, grants and agreements total

$2,286,149 or approximately 8.2 percent of the total funds available to the FIA program.

13
COMPARING 1999 FIA ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH OUR 1998

GOALS

In the 1998 annual business report for FIA, we included a section stating our plans for fiscal year 1999. Below

we show how our actions in 1999 matched our promises in 1998.

In the 1998 annual report, we said that in 1999 we

would:

Implement annual FIA approaches in South Carolina,

Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky,

Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Maine.

Continue final periodic inventories in Arizona, New

Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Alabama, Louisiana,

North Carolina, Tennessee, New Jersey, Delaware, West

Virginia, Maryland, Alaska, and Oregon.

Develop and implement a set of core field procedures

on all lands.

Continue to make our data and products available

online.

Rebuild lost analytical capacity.

Increase research and development in technology,

especially in remote sensing.

Continue integrating the plot component of Forest

Health Monitoring (FHM) into FIA.

In 1999, we:

Implemented and continued annual FIA in all States

listed except Arkansas.

Continued final periodic inventory in all States listed

except Louisiana, Arizona, and Colorado. Initiated final

periodic inventory in Wyoming, and completed the final

periodic fieldwork in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Developed core field procedures that were implemented

in Maine and will be implemented by other units as

soon as they complete current projects. Work continues

on development of core information management,

analysis, and reporting procedures.

Added two online databases to our web site (Resource

Planning Act 1997, and the Timber Products Output

database). Also added a section containing updates on

the status of FIA implementation.

Increased analytical staff from 32.1 to 41.0 full-time

positions, and entered into three cooperative agreements with partners to provide analysis of FIA data.

Funded 17 external cooperative studies dealing with

technology, of which 16 deal with remote sensing

technology in large area forest inventory.

Agreed on a unified program management and budget

approach to merging FIA and FHM plots. Agreed to

maintain current FHM sample intensity as a subset of

FIA plots and to implement FHM plots (now called

phase 3 plots) jointly with FIA plots (now called phase

2 plots).

14
2000 FIA PROGRAM DIRECTION

The FIA program is committed to implementing the Strategic Plan for Forest Inventory and Monitoring, with an

initial focus on achieving a base Federal program of 10 percent per year in the West and 15 percent per year in

the Eastern U.S. by FY 2003. We have made significant changes to our program by forming a partnership with

State Foresters to lead and implement the FIA program in a more responsive manner. We are implementing

annual inventory systems in every region of the country.

In fiscal year 2000, we intend to accomplish the following:

q Continue transition to an annual inventory system by continuing annual inventory in all current States and

initiating an annual inventory system in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arkansas, Louisiana, Utah, and

Oregon (fig. 6). This will mean that annual inventory is implemented in every region of the country and will

include coverage of over 42 percent of the Nation’s forests (exclusive of interior Alaska) under a cooperative

program involving full Federal-State partnerships in program management and delivery.

q Continue traditional periodic inventories to establish a baseline in advance of implementing annual inventory in Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, North Carolina, Maryland, Washington, West Virginia, and

Wyoming.

Figure 6.—Planned fieldwork, 2000.

Hawaii

Alaska

Puerto Rico

FIA Design

Periodic

Annualized

15
q Continue development and documentation of nationally consistent compilation, analysis, and database

management procedures.

q Implement phase 2 and phase 3 fieldwork together in those States that are currently conducting annual FIA.

Pilot test soil and vegetative measures on some phase 3 plots to prepare for full implementation in 2001.

q Continue collaborative stewardship of the FIA program by holding user group meetings in all regions of the

country and at the national level.

q Continue to make our data more accessible and usable by adding analytical tools and program documentation to online FIA databases and web pages.

q Continue to conduct applied research into ways of using technology to increase program efficiency, and to

develop new products to meet customer needs. Produce a white paper summarizing experience, lessons

learned, and the status of remote sensing in FIA.

q Sign an internal Memorandum of Understanding between FIA and the National Forest System, to ensure

that all national forest lands are in the future covered by the same core FIA program as all other lands.

q Sign a Memorandum of Understanding between the President of the National Association of State Foresters

and the Chief of the Forest Service demonstrating Agency commitment to treat the FIA program as an

Agency obligation and to take all allowable steps to ensure that the base Federal program is fully funded by

fiscal year 2003.

16
LONG-TERM STRATEGIC DIRECTION

The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 directs Federal entities to develop long-term

goals and performance measures to monitor progress towards those goals. Although intended to apply at the

Agency level, the GPRA framework provides an excellent tool for guiding progress at the project level as well.

The following tabulation shows an initial set of goals, performance measures, targets, and benchmarks for the

FIA program for 1998-1999. In future annual reports, we will repeat this table to show how we are progressing

towards our goals.

Goal Performance measure 1998 1999 Target

Level Level Level

INPUTS

Maintain sufficient funding Percent of necessary Federal 44 47 100

to support the base Federal funding received

FIA program

OUTPUTS

Include 100 percent of U.S. Percent forest included in 95 95 100

forest lands in the FIA the FIA sample population

sample population

Keep fieldwork current Percent of base sample

locations visited/year:

 East 9.0 10.6 15

 West 3.4 3.5 10

Keep analysis current Average number of years 11 9 5

between State analytical

reports

Keep online database Average age (years) of 6 7 1

current most recent complete

panel of FIA data available

online

OUTCOMES

Customer satisfaction Percent of customers rating * * 100

service as “satisfactory”

or better.

* Performance measure in development

17
CONCLUSIONS

We have entered a new era in partnership and collaboration in which Federal, State, and other colleagues work

side by side to plan, manage, implement, and continuously improve the FIA program. We are gathering and

disseminating information on a wider array of ecological attributes while continuing to serve our traditional

customers who require timely information on forest resources. We are increasing the timeliness of our surveys

and of our reporting to provide a continuously updated, publicly accessible information base that includes

meaningful reports and analyses as well as elemental data for others to use. And we are openly reporting on our

progress, our accomplishments, our successes, and our challenges.

In summary, we are committed to working collaboratively with our partners to deliver the best program possible

with the resources that we have at our discretion. We hope this report gives you a window into the business

practices of the FIA program, and we encourage you to help us improve the program with your feedback.

18
Glossary of Terms Used in Report Tables

APPENDIX

Acres inventoried.—Area covered by

FIA units in the current year.

Separated into two categories:

Periodic inventory.—Results from

States still under the State-byState inventory program.

Annual inventory.—Results from

States implementing annual

FIA.

Under each cetegory are shown:

All acres.—All land (forest and

nonforest) surveyed this year by

FIA. The FIA program covers

all lands to monitor the conversion between forest and

nonforest, but the bulk of field

time is spent on forested plots.

Forest acres.—That portion of “All

acres” meeting the definition of

forest land and surveyed by the

FIA unit this year.

Additional Station funds.—Additional

funds redirected to the FIA unit by

the Research Station, most commonly from savings arising from

budgeted salaries for Station positions that were left unfilled. These

funds are typically reallocated part

way through the year.

Additional WO R&D funds.—Additional funds allocated to the FIA unit

by the Washington Office Research

and Development Staff, typically

midway through the year or in

response to requests for special

projects.

Adjustments in FY 99.—Any changes

in the 1998 end of year balance made

during the 1999 fiscal year. Unlike in

private companies, all Federal funds

unspent at the end of a fiscal year are

subject to reallocation by Agency

officials. Efforts are made to return

unspent funds to units, but there is no

guarantee that this will occur.

Direct expenses.—All expenses directly

attributable to the FIA unit, incurred

as a part of doing FIA business.

Excludes indirect business costs

(such as rent, telephones, and

administrative overhead outside the

FIA unit staff), which are included

below in “Indirect expenses.”

Includes work done for other units as

a normal part of FIA business.

Includes the following items:

Salary.—Includes direct and indirect

salary costs charged to the FIA

unit. Broken into the following

categories:

Administration.—Program

Manager, Project Leader,

and clerical staff.

Image analysis.—Airphoto

interpreters, satellite image

analysts.

Field supervision.—Field crew

supervisors who spend <50

percent of time measuring

plots.

Field crews.—All staff spending at least 50 percent of

time measuring regular

plots.

QA crews.—Staff spending at

least 50 percent of time

doing quality assurance

work.

Information management.—

Programmers, compilers,

computer system support

staff.

Analysts.—Staff who analyze

data and write publications.

Techniques research.—Mainly

research staff who conduct

FIA-related research on

methods and techniques.

Travel

Office travel.—Travel costs for

all staff except field crews

and QA crews.

Field/QA travel.—Travel costs

for field crews and QA

crews.

Equipment.—Costs for durable

goods used for FIA. Includes

the following:

Imagery.—Aerial photos,

satellite imagery data files.

Vehicles.—All vehicle costs,

including such items as

operating costs, depreciation, and leases.

Field equipment.—Measurement tools and equipment

such as data recorders

carried by field crews.

Computer/telecommunications.—Computer hardware, software, communication costs.

Other.—Anything that does not

fit into one of the above

equipment categories.

Grants and agreements.—Cost of

cooperative grants and agreements that directly support the

FIA mission.

Publications.—Costs for layout,

editing, printing, and distribution of publications.

Miscellaneous.—Anything that does

not fit into one of the above

categories.

Forest plots per Federal FTE.—Forest

Plots Visited divided by the total

number of full-time staff employed

by the FIA unit—another measure of

19
the Federal cost of doing business in

a given region. Includes analytical,

supervisory, and management staff.

Forest plots visited.—Total number of

base grid forested plots visited by

field crews during the fiscal year.

Indirect expenses.—Indirect expenses

include items such as Research

Station management salaries,

telephones, utilities, and other items

for which the FIA unit does not pay

for directly but which are deemed by

Station leaders to be a fair and

reasonable assessment for the basic

services needed to support FIA along

with other Station activities. Each

Station has its own means for

determining these assessments.

Rather than reporting the different

rates, we simply calculate the

“Indirect expenses” item by subtraction:

Indirect expenses = Total available

resources - Total direct expenses -

1999 end of year balance

Indirect rate.—Indirect Expenses

divided by Total Resources Available. This is not necessarily the same

as the standard Station overhead rate;

instead this rate reflects the total

indirect cost as a fraction of the total

resources available to FIA.

NFS funds received.—Funds received

from the National Forest System in

direct support of the FIA program,

generally received from a single

Forest Service Region to cover the

cost of FIA on that Region’s lands.

1999 beginning balance.—Reported 98

EOY balance plus or minus Adjustments in FY 99.

1999 EOY balance.—Funds remaining

unspent at the end of FY99. It is

hoped these funds will be available

for use in FY 00. If a unit has

overspent its budget, this may be a

negative figure indicating a debt to

the Station to be paid next year.

1999 initial allocation.—Funds appropriated by Congress through the

Forest Service Research and Development budget that were sent to

Stations for their FIA units.

Number of user group meetings.—

Number of user group meetings

sponsored or attended by each FIA

unit. A user group meeting is an open

meeting where a complete regional

cross section of FIA partners and

customers are invited to attend. User

group meetings differ from the usual

smaller meetings with one or two

partners that all FIA units call as a

normal course of business.

Other funds received.—Funds received

from other sources, such as universities, collection agreements.

Percent forest land in FIA sample.—

Percent of forest land in the region

where an FIA unit is expected to

operate. Equal to 100 percent of land

except in regions where national

forests do not participate in the FIA

program.

Percent forested plots visited.—Forest

plots visited divided by the total

number of forested plots in the

region.

Percent of region covered by annual

FIA.—Sum of forested acres in

States currently implementing annual

FIA, divided by the total number of

forested acres in each FIA region: a

measure of the degree to which the

FIA region has moved from periodic

to annual inventory.

Publications.—Number of publications

per unit, by type of publication, as

reported in official Agency attainment reports. Publications are one of

the major outputs of the FIA

program. Types of publications

include:

Survey Unit Reports

State Statistical Reports

State Analytical Reports

State Timber Product Output

(TPO) Reports

Other Station Publications

Peer-reviewed Journal articles

Proceeding papers

Other.—Publications that do not fit

into any of the above categories,

such as abstracts, books, or other

government publications.

Reported 98 EOY balance.—Funds

reported in the 1998 Annual Report

as unspent at the end of the 1998

fiscal year, and presumably available

for use in FY 99.

State funds received.—Funds received

from a State agency in direct support

of the FIA program.

S&PF funds received.—Funds received

from State & Private Forestry

partners in direct support of the FIA

program.

Total Federal cost per forest plot.—

Total funds expended divided by

Forest plots visited, another measure

of the cost of doing business in a

particular region. This includes any

partner funds given to and spent by

the FIA unit, but does NOT include

any in-kind contributions made by

States or other partners.

Total funds expended.—Sum of Direct

and Indirect expenses, from table 2.

20
Table 1.—Performance measures for the 1999 FIA program

FIA Unit

 Pacific Rocky North North- Fort Washington,

 Northwest Mountain Southern Central east Collins DC Total

Total funds expended $4,794,912 $4,143,614 $8,797,874 $3,606,415 $3,888,468 $426,081 $1,567,500 $27,224,864Acres inventoried (thousands of acres)

 Periodic Inventory

 All acres 34,024 7,879 14,584 11,911 68,398 Forest acres 3,906 6,940 10,247 5,934 27,027 Annual Inventory All acres 151,286 147,015 19,757 318,058 Forest acres 85,075 34,785 17,856 137,716Forest plots visited 630 1,124 4,733 1,402 1,684 9,573Percent forest plots visited 2.3 5.0 11.6 8.3 10.4 7.8Total Federal cost per forest plot $7,611 $3,686 $1,859 $2,572 $2,309 $2,844Forest plots per Federal FTE 13.4 21.0 51.9 31.3 30.3 32.3Publications Survey Unit Reports 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 State Statistical Reports 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 State Analytical Reports 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 3 State TPO Reports 0 0 5 0 5 0 0 10 Other Station publications 3 3 6 3 1 1 0 17 Peer-reviewed journal articles 9 0 6 3 0 6 0 24 Proceedings articles 4 0 5 5 5 1 0 20 Other 3 0 4 4 1 0 1 13 Total 19 4 30 17 12 8 1 91Number publications per Federal FTE 0.40 0.07 0.33 0.38 0.22 3.48 0.50 0.31Percent of forest land in FIA sample 83 100 100 100 100 95Percent region covered by annual FIA 0 0 37 46 19 21Number user group meetings 1 0 6 1 0 0 0 8

21
Table 2.—Financial statement for the 1999 FIA program

FIA Unit

 Pacific Rocky North North- Fort Washington, Northwest Mountain Southern Central east Collins DC TotalI. Available funds

Reported 98 EOY balance $294,000 $0 ($85,000) $211,927 $25,000 $15,000 $0 $460,927Adjustments in FY 99 0 146,000 85,000 4,796 (40,000) 10,781 0 206,5771999 beginning balance 294,000 146,000 0 216,723 (15,000) 25,781 0 667,5041999 initial allocation 3,830,912 2,477,000 8,182,000 3,230,000 3,841,000 400,000 1,836,000 23,796,912Additional Station funds 0 0 71,240 0 73,200 0 0 144,440Additional WO R&D funds 25,000 50,000 268,634 85,000 50,000 5,000 (268,500) 215,134NFS funds received 910,000 1,653,000 260,000 150,095 0 0 0 2,973,095S&PF funds received 0 0 16,000 0000 16,000State funds received 0 0 0 3,000 0 0 0 3,000Other funds received 0 0 0 26,000 101,000 0 0 127,000

Total available funds $5,059,912 $4,326,000 $8,797,874 $3,710,818 $4,050,200 $430,781 $1,567,500 $27,943,085II. Direct Expenses

Salary

Administration $220,000 $228,217 $263,400 $179,015 $150,820 $47,692 $217,602 $1,306,746Image analysis 290,000 0 134,000 238,594 190,000 0 0 852,594Field supervision 317,000 279,004 607,500 165,906 248,627 0 0 1,618,037Field crews 500,000 981,615 961,500 544,751 628,931 0 0 3,616,797QA crews 123,000 141,594 403,000 43,887 169,000 0 0 880,481Information management 521,723 425,451 846,100 370,872 333,210 0 0 2,497,356Analysis 368,000 259,621 1,070,500 362,596 345,775 0 0 2,406,492Techniques research 189,000 0 384,000 291,867 243,769 140,348 0 1,248,984

Travel

Office travel 89,000 43,295 272,400 53,559 82,555 32,047 30,590 603,446Field/QA crew travel 190,354 234,484 735,000 188,592 220,992 0 0 1,569,422

Equipment

Imagery 47,000 0 18,000 22,594 11,000 0 0 98,594Vehicles 593,000 143,849 174,000 96,841 86,000 225 0 1,093,915Field equipment 48,000 117,666 102,000 49,758 186,000 0 0 503,424Computer/telecom- munications 104,943 315,942 271,000 282,538 201,000 10,991 532 1,186,946Other 93,000 231,257 12,000 3,888 82,500 146 3,079 425,870

Grants & agreements 399,000 112,420 1,462,921 58,500 27,716 137,592 88,000 2,286,149Publications (printing, distribution) 4,000 0 1,000 3,095 0 2,154 1,725 11,974Miscellaneous 50,000 0 100,825 0 4,200 2,201 2,280 159,506

Total direct expenses $4,147,020 $3,514,415 $7,819,146 $2,956,853 $3,212,095 $373,396 $343,808 $22,366,733III. Indirect expenses $647,892 $629,199 $978,728 $649,562 $676,373 $52,685 $1,223,692 $4,858,131

(indirect rate, percent) 13 15 11 18 17 12 78 17

IV. 1999 EOY balance $265,000 $182,386 $0 $104,403 $161,732 $4,700 $0 $718,221

22
Table 3.—Staffing (full-time positions) for the 1999 FIA program

 Pacific Rocky North North- Fort Washington,

 Northwest Mountain Southern Central east Collins DC Total

Administration 5.0 5.3 5.0 3.4 5.5 0.5 2.0 26.7

Image analysis 4.0 0.0 6.0 6.0 3.8 0.0 0.0 19.8

Field supervision 4.0 4.8 7.3 2.6 5.3 0.0 0.0 24.0

Field crews 14.0 27.5 26.6 16.2 25.3 0.0 0.0 109.6

QA crews 3.0 3.7 9.1 0.8 3.0 0.0 0.0 19.6

Information management 9.0 7.5 14.2 6.4 4.5 0.0 0.0 41.6

Analysis 6.0 4.8 20.0 5.7 4.5 0.0 0.0 41.0

Techniques research 2.0 0.0 3.0 3.8 3.8 1.8 0.0 14.3

 Total 47.0 53.6 91.2 44.8 55.6 2.3 2.0 296.5

Table 4.—Grants and agreements entered into by FIA units, FY 1999

Amount Partner and purpose of work

I. Remote sensing related:

$48,000 Oregon State University, study of LIDAR remote sensing technology to evaluate the effectiveness in

assessing canopy layers

$128,000 Leeds University, London, United Kingdom, study of the application of Neural Networking to combine

remote sensing data and field plot data to predict the extent and distribution of overstory species in Alaska

$16,000 University of Minnesota, stratification of annual inventory samples for variance reduction using k-Nearest

Neighbor techniques and single-season satellite imagery

$37,500 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, study of the use of satellite imagery for constructing and

updating forest/nonforest masks and cover type maps with change detection techniques

$85,000 Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, study of geospatial and remote sensing methods that

integrate FIA data with information survey data from the National Resources Inventory conducted by the

Natural Resources Conservation Service

$30,000 National Center for Air and Stream Improvement (NCASI), co-sponsorship of a competition for ideas to

improve use of remote sensing technology in conducting large-scale forest inventory

$38,000 Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC), survey of training needs for FIA staff and

development of a training curriculum for increasing use of remote sensing applications

$13,443 Mississippi State University, digitized forestry images and models for monitoring psychological, silvicultural, and wildlife habitat attributes

$189,421 Mississippi State University, remote sensing applications for annual forest inventory

$8,400 Virginia Polytechnic Institute, remote sensing work for followup on FY 98 NCASI grant to Sourthern

Research Station

$21,600 NCASI, forest area and type estimations using satellite data

(table continued on next page)

23
$40,000 Forest Service, Southern Station Unit 4702, digital camera estimation techniques

$23,200 Forest Service, Southern Station Unit 4104, development of volume equations

$5,000 University of Maine, classification of Landsat Imagery

$7,000 Institute of Ecological Studies, spatial analysis of FIA data

$45,000 Utah State University, development of spatial products from FIA data

$735,564 TOTAL

II. Other: collecting, analyzing, reporting, and distributing FIA information

$10,326 Mississippi State University, development and maintenance of Starkville Forestry Sciences Lab Arbore

tum

$1,126,531 Cooperative agreements with the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina,

Tennessee, and Virginia for conducting fieldwork in support of annual FIA

$138,000 University of Montana, TPO studies in Oregon and California over the next 3 years

$85,000 Oregon Department of Forestry, problem analysis for riparian issues relating to vegetation

$5,000 Purdue University, study of the use of off-grid Forest Health Monitoring plots to address forest health

issues in Indiana State Parks

$29,592 Colorado State University, Statistics Department, building of a simulation database for the Aspen-Birch

Unit of Minnesota, and comparison of estimation alternatives for annual FIA data

$21,000 Colorado State University, Statistics Department, study of small-area estimation methods that use FIA

data

$21,840 University of Montana, Arizona logging utilization study

$45,580 University of Montana, Montana’s forest products study

$50,000 University of Nevada-Las Vegas, assistance and support with information management technology and

applications

$15,716 Institute of Ecological Studies, in support of the Delaware River Basin Assessment

$2,000 Environmental Protection Agency, consultation on merging FIA and FHM data collection activities

$1,550,585 TOTAL

Amount Partner and Purpose of Work

(table 4 continued)

24
25

For information about the status and trends of America’s forests, please contact the appropriate office or the

below:

Northeast North Central

Program Manager, FIA Program Manager, FIA

USDA Forest Service USDA Forest Service

Northeastern Research Station North Central Research Station

11 Campus Boulevard, Suite 200 1992 Folwell Avenue

Newtown Square, PA 19073 St. Paul, MN 55108

(610) 557-4075 (651) 649-5139

South Rocky Mountain

Program Manager, FIA Program Manager, FIA

USDA Forest Service USDA Forest Service

Southern Research Station Rocky Mountain Research Station

200 Weaver Boulevard 507 25th Street

Asheville, NC 28802 Ogden, UT 84401

(828) 257-4309 (801) 625-5388

Pacific Northwest

(includes Alaska and Hawaii) Statistical Techniques

Program Manager, FIA Project Leader, FIA

USDA Forest Service USDA Forest Service

Pacific Northwest Research Station Rocky Mountain Research Station

1221 SW Yamhill Street, Suite 200 2150 Centre Avenue, Bldg. A, Suite 350

Portland, OR 97205 Fort Collins, CO 80526-1891

(503) 808-2066 (970) 295-5973

National

Forest Inventory National Program Leader

USDA Forest Service 1NW

201 14th Street SW

Washington, DC 20090-6090

(202) 205-1507

All of our regional Internet homepages, as well as a wealth of statistical and other information, are available

through the national FIA homepage located at:

www.srsfia.usfs.msstate.edu/wo/wofia.htm