Abstract
The US Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects information on trees in areas that meet its definition of forest. However, the inventory excludes trees in areas that do not meet this definition, such as those found in urban areas, in isolated patches, in areas with sparse or predominantly herbaceous vegetation, in narrow strips (e.g., shelterbelts), or in riparian areas. In the Great Plains States, little is known about the tree resource in these noninventoried, nonforest areas, and there is a great deal of concern about the potential impact of invasive pests, such as the emerald ash borer. To address this knowledge gap, FIA’s National Inventory and Monitoring Applications Center has partnered with state cooperators and others in a project called the Great Plains Initiative to design and implement an inventory of trees in nonforest areas. The goal of the inventory is to characterize the nonforest tree resource using methods compatible with those of FIA so a holistic understanding of the resource can be obtained by integrating the two surveys. The goal of this paper is to describe the process of designing and implementing the survey, including plot and sample design, and to present some example results from a reporting tool we developed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ball, J., Mason, S., Kiesz, A., McCormick, D., & Brown, C. (2007). Assessing the hazard of emerald ash borer and other exotic stressors to community forests. Arboriculture & Urban Forestry, 33(5), 350–359.
Chen, X., Liu, S., Zhu, Z., Vogelmann, J., Li, Z., & Ohlen, D. (2011). Estimating aboveground forest biomass carbon and fire consumption in the U.S. Utah High Plateaus using data from the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program, Landsat, and LANDFIRE. Ecological Indicators 11, 140–148.
Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling Techniques (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Franklin, J. (2002). Enhancing a regional vegetation map with predictive models of dominant plant species in chaparral. Applied Vegetation Science, 5(1), 135–146.
Gillespie, A. (1999). Rationale for a national annual forest inventory program. Journal of Forestry, 97(12), 16–20.
Hansen, P. L., & Hoffman, G. R. (1988). The Vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland Districts of the Custer National Forest: A Habitat Type Classification. Gen. Tech. Rep. RM-157. Fort Collins: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station.
Holmgren, P., Masakha, E. J., & Sjöholm, H. (1994). Not all African land is being degraded: A recent survey of trees on farms in Kenya reveals rapidly increasing forest resources. Ambio, 23(7), 390–395.
Homer, C., Dewitz, J., Fry, J., Coan, M., Hossain, M., Larson, C., et al. (2007). Completion of the 2001 National Land Cover Database for the Conterminous United States. Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, 73, 337–341.
Krist, F., Sapio, F., & Tkacz, B. (2007). Mapping Risk from Forest Insects and Diseases. FHTET 2007–06. Fort Collins: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Health Protection, Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team.
Lister, A. J., & Scott, C. T. (2008). Use of space-filling curves to select sample locations in natural resource monitoring studies. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 149(1–4), 71–80.
Miles, P. D. (2009). EVALIDator Reports: Reporting beyond the FIADB. In W. McWilliams, G. Moisen, & R. Czaplewski (Comps.), Proceedings of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008, 21–23 October 2008, Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Nebraska Forest Service (2007). Great Plains Tree and Forest Invasives Initiative—A Multi-state Cooperative Effort for Education, Mitigation and Utilization. Grant Proposal. Lincoln, Nebraska. http://www.nfs.unl.edu/documents/GPI%20Fact%20Sheet%20May%202009.pdf. Accessed 8 January 2010.
Nowak, D. J., & Crane, D. E. (2000). The Urban Forest Effects (UFORE) model: Quantifying urban forest structure and functions. In M. Hansen & T. Burk (Eds.), Integrated tools for natural resources inventories in the 21st century (pp. 714–720). Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-212. St. Paul: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Forest Experiment Station.
Perry, C. H., Woodall, C. W., Liknes, G. C., & Schoeneberger, M. M. (2008). Filling the gap: Improving estimates of working tree resources in agricultural landscapes. Agroforestry Systems, doi:10.1007/s10457-008-9125-6.
Piva, R. J., Lister, A. J., & Haugan, D. (2009a). South Dakota’s Forest Resources, 2007. Res. Note. NRS-32. Newtown Square: Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Piva, R. J., Moser, W. K., Haugan, D. D., Josten, G. J., Brand, G. J., Butler, B. J., et al. (2009b). South Dakota’s Forests 2005. Resour. Bull. NRS-35. Newtown Square: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northern Research Station.
Poland, T. M., & McCullough, D. G. (2006). Emerald ash borer: Invasion of the urban forest and the threat to North America’s ash resource. Journal of Forestry, 104, 118–124.
Scott, C. T. (2009). Overview of the National Inventory and Monitoring Applications Center (NIMAC). In W. McWilliams, G. Moisen, & R. Czaplewski (Comps.), Proceedings of the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Symposium 2008, 21–23 October 2008, Park City, UT. Proc. RMRS-P-56CD. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station.
Smith, W. B., Miles, P. D., Vissage, J. S., & Pugh, S. A. (2004). Forest Resources of the United States, 2002. Gen. Tech. Rep. NC-241. St. Paul: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central Research Station.
U.S. Census Bureau (2002). U.S. Census 2000 TIGER/Line® files Machine-Readable Data Files. Washington: U.S. Census Bureau.
U.S. Forest Service (2000). RPA Assessment of Forest and Range Lands. FS-687. Washington: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
U.S. Forest Service (2007). Forest inventory and analysis national core field guide, volume 1: field data collection procedures for phase 2 plots, version 4.0. http://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/fia/data-collection/. Accessed 15 November 2008.
U.S. Forest Service (2008). The forest inventory and analysis database: Database description and users manual version 4.0 for Phase 2. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington Office. http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/library/database-documentation/. Accessed 25 January 2009.
U.S. Forest Service (2009a). North Dakota Forest Health Highlights—2007. http://fhm.fs.fed.us/fhh/fhh_07/nd_fhh_07.pdf. Accessed 8 December 2009.
U.S. Forest Service (2009b). South Dakota Forest Health Highlights—2002. http://fhm.fs.fed.us/fhh/fhh-02/sd/sd_02.htm. Accessed 8 December 2009.
U.S. Forest Service (2009c). 2003 Forest Health Highlights—Nebraska. http://fhm.fs.fed.us/fhh/fhh-03/ne/ne_03.pdf. Accessed 8 December 2009.
U.S. Forest Service (2009d). Forest Health Highlights 2003—Kansas. http://fhm.fs.fed.us/fhh/fhh-03/ks/ks_03.pdf. Accessed 8 December 2009.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lister, A.J., Scott, C.T. & Rasmussen, S. Inventory methods for trees in nonforest areas in the great plains states. Environ Monit Assess 184, 2465–2474 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2131-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2131-6