USFS Inventory and Monitoring Review

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USFS Inventory and Monitoring Review

• Initial observations and Recommendations
• John Moser Frank Sapio
• Steve Prisley Bill Stewart
• Janette Kaiser Mette Loyche Wilkie
• Catherine Jesch Mike Clutter

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Thanks!

• Thanks to Rich, Greg, and Brad for their
  diligence and attention to detail in providing
  review materials
• Thanks for John for the meeting planning and
  support
• Thanks for Bov for hosting us here in Oregon
• Thanks to those who took the time to visit with
  us on the IM program
• Most importantly, thanks for the opportunity to
  participate in this process its makes a
  difference in the products and services provided

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FIA vs. Inventory Monitoring

• We struggled with understanding the scope,
  organization, and justification of the Inventory
  and Monitoring projects outside of the FIA
  program.
• From our perspective we do not have enough
  specific information to make quantitative
  judgments on the Inventory and Monitoring portion
  of the program
• We have completed the scorecard on the FIA
  portion of the program

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A Conceptual Diagram

• FIA core missions and objectives are reasonably
  well understood by our review panel
• The Inventory and Monitoring portion of the
  mission was not as clearly defined and somewhat
  amorphous by Research Station
• The relationship of these projects to the overall
  mission is still, at best, fuzzy
• Opportunities to expand the FIA core into some of
  these areas clearly exist

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Portfolios

• We will focus our comments on the four portfolios
  used during the review to split up the program
• Portfolio 1. Data Collection and functions that
  support data collection
• Portfolio 2. Analysis and Reporting
• Portfolio 3. New and emerging issues and
  opportunities
• Portfolio 4. New research and technology
  development

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Portfolio 1 Accomplishments

• National field manual with regional options
• Annual System in 48 states plus all territories
• Substantial cooperation with states and
  contractors in executing field work
  particularly in the east
• National compilation system developed and
  implemented in 3 of 4 regions
• National data recorder system MIDAS
• Outstanding recent implementation and performance
  on field based activities

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Portfolio 1 Issues / Challenges

• Complete the charge in the 1998 Farm Bill
  annual system in all states
• Transparency of procedures, documentation, etc.
  is primary to the mission
• Explore differences in field work execution
  between the east and the west (year around data
  collection and state partnerships)
• Managing the expectation of expanding the grid
  into rangeland, urban, etc. and adding additional
  variables
• Quantitative measures of field performance for
  use in program management and review (cost /
  plot etc.)
• Denied access and its impact on the program

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Portfolio 1 Recommendations

• Continue progress toward high quality and
  efficient data collection and those activities
  that support it.
• Continue and expand improvement on phase 1 remote
  sensing opportunities.
• Do not mess with the grid and do not change the
  basic sampling design
• Maintain control of the QA / QC functions and
  training of field crews
• Expand where appropriate the use of State and
  contract crews in the west along with expanding
  the field season
• Outstanding recent implementation and performance
  on field based activities

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Portfolio 2 Accomplishments

• State reports NRS on-time SRS 75 complete PNW
  complete RMS catching up
• State reports are now issue driven. Better
  integration with States and State issues
• Tools for ad hoc query and reporting developed
  and in place
• Addressing emerging issues on biomass and carbon
• Reports contain both current estimates and
  projections
• Many other reports and reporting tools developed
  and supported (regional, national, and global
  reporting)

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Portfolio 2 Issues

• Fully deploy delivery of Forest Health Indicator
  science
• Continue to standardize volume, biomass, and
  carbon estimation
• Continue development of a national carbon
  accounting system
• Develop biomass GRM estimates for all trees on
  all forest land
• Producing faster, better, and less expensive
  reports
• Tension between the core and other activities . .
  . Defining objectives and priorities

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Portfolio 2 Recommendations

• Continue to pursue transparency and documentation
  of analysis procedures
• Develop a national project for consistent biomass
  and carbon estimation for all species / species
  groups
• Insure that FIA participates in and provides
  input to State Forest Sustainability Reports
• Develop communications plans to better
  disseminate information

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Portfolio 3 Accomplishments

• Synchronized P2 and P3
• Increased Analytical Capacity
• Improved Techniques Research
• Increased use of Remote Sensing Spatial
  Techniques
• Improved Land Cover Use Change
• Analysis

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Portfolio 3 Issues / Challenges

• More Aggressive Remote Sensing Approaches
• Enhanced NFS Support
• Rapid Assessment Teams
• Urban Forest Inventory
• Rangeland Inventory
• Water quantity and quality monitoring
• Other Treed and Riparian Land Inventory
• Wildlife Habitat Monitoring
• Climate Change
• Quantification and valuation of ecosystems
  services

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Portfolio 3 Recommendations

• Expansion into these emerging areas has to be
  funded over and above current core programs. Do
  not put these core programs at risk due to
  expansion into new areas.
• Coordinate the implementation of rapid assessment
  teams with other agencies / departments
• Expand the use and understanding of carbon
  accounting across the full range of carbon stocks
  and flows (wood, coal, etc.) Need a more robust
  view of TPO studies and their use in carbon
  accounting
• Expand into urban areas, and other land with
  trees given that funding from appropriate sources
  is forthcoming
• Develop methods to assess changes due to climate
  fluctuations
• Increase capacity to address inventory and
  monitoring of various emerging issues (see issues
  list)

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Portfolio 4 Accomplishments

• Developed estimators for the annual system
  (means, totals, standard errors)
• Developed small area estimation methods
• Exploring new and innovative uses on remote
  sensing techniques for use in Inventory and
  Monitoring
• Developed methods for urban and rangelands
• Developed methods for spatial data analysis and
  visualization (maps)

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Portfolio 4 Issues

• How to expand regional processes / techniques to
  a national scale
• Coordination of regional R D across regions in
  an efficient and effective manner
• Best source, avoiding duplication
• Encourage continued development of estimation
  methodologies for the FIA sampling design

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Portfolio 4 Recommendations

• Where appropriate take successful regional work
  and expand to a national scale
• Encourage continued development of estimation
  methodologies for the FIA sampling design
  (workshop, funding, etc.)
• Expand remote sensing methodologies / techniques
  for application in a wide array of analysis and
  reporting situations
• Improve coordination and sharpen focus among RD
  Units in all Inventory and Monitoring efforts

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Quantitative Measures - Relevance
1 2 3 4 5 6 AVG

Relevance
1 5 5 5 5 5 5 5.0
2 5 5 5 5 5 4 4.8
3 5 5 4 5 4 5 4.7
4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5.0
5 5 4 5 5 4 5 4.7
6 4 4 4 4 4 4 4.0
7 5 5 5 5 5 5 5.0
Overall 5 5 5 5 4.5 5 4.92
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Quantitative Measures - Quality
Quality Ave
1 4 5 4 4 4 4 4.2
2 5 5 4 5 5 5 4.8
3 5 5 5 5 4 5 4.8
4 4 5 4 4 4 4 4.2
5 4 4 5 5 3 5 4.3
6 4 5 4 3 4 4 4.0
Overall 4 5 4 4 4.7 5 4.45
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Quantitative Measures - Performance
Performance Ave
1 5 5 4 5 4 5 4.7
2 5 5 4 5 4 5 4.7
3 4 5 4 5 4 5 4.5
4 5 5 4 5 5 4.8
5 5 5 4 5 5 5 4.8
6 5 5 4 5 5 5 4.8
7 4 5 4 4 4 5 4.3
Overall 5 5 4 5 4.5 5 4.75

Program 5 5 4 5 4.5 5 4.8
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Review Process Observations

• We appreciated receiving comprehensive review
  information early
• Provide consistent information of projects across
  all Research Stations (complete list of projects
  and funds / funding sources)
• Better definition of portfolios
• Provide a more complete set of financial based
  performance metrics by Research Station and
  project
• Review team backgrounds are quite similar . . .
  Expand backgrounds of participants
• Great to involve other countries in the review
  process
• Facilitator was quite useful
• Involvement of all program managers and senior
  leadership is important
• Meeting facility was great

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Program Observations

• Control of computers and information systems
  (CIO)
• Human Resources issues in the work force
  (retirements, loss of institutional knowledge,
  succession planning, etc.)
• Inventory Monitoring should be in compliance
  with Forest Service aviation safety policies
• Participation of FIA (and the US) in development
  and implementation of global reporting of natural
  resources
• Apparent lack of coordination and prioritization
  between regional IM projects across a national
  program
• Opportunities for expanding the breadth of
  partnerships
• Some disconnects between the strategic planning
  process and individual project selection and
  implementation

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Program Assessment

• The IM program is in great shape from our
  perspective. Substantial progress has been made
  toward most of the primary objectives identified
  by the review team. We have been impressed by
  the breadth, depth and quality of the programs we
  have reviewed.

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Questions ??