Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Leveraging FIA data for analysis beyond forest reports: examples from the world of carbon

Informally Refereed

Abstract

The Forest Inventory and Analysis program of the USDA Forest Service is the go-to source for data to estimate carbon stocks and stock changes for the annual national greenhouse gas inventory (NGHGI) of the United States. However, the different pools of forest carbon have not always been estimated directly from FIA measurements. As part of the new forest carbon accounting framework, pools historically estimated from models based upon the literature, and lacking FIA data, are getting updated with fresh models utilizing empirical data on the forest floor, soils, and down dead wood collected since 2000. We will demonstrate how we constructed custom datasets to inform model development, along with how we integrated ancillary geospatial data. We will also discuss potential future uses of FIA and ancillary data to inform carbon estimates as well as exploring new ways to communicate carbon reporting to the public.

Parent Publication

Citation

Walters, Brian F.; Domke, Grant M.; Woodall, Christopher W. 2015. Leveraging FIA data for analysis beyond forest reports: examples from the world of carbon. In: Stanton, Sharon M.; Christensen, Glenn A., comps. 2015. Pushing boundaries: new directions in inventory techniques and applications: Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) symposium 2015. 2015 December 8–10; Portland, Oregon. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-931. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. p. 124.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/research/treesearch/50278