General thoughts on Criteria and Indicators

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General thoughts onCriteria and Indicators
presented by W. Brad Smith Associate National
Program Manager, FIA
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Why are we doing this?
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Criteria and Indicators are not new, but the old
paradigm was simpler
Monitor timber supplies for sustainability
TIMBER
1928 McSweeney-McNary Act
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In the 1960s and 70s many significant changes
in U.S. policy began

• The days have ended when the forest may be
  viewed only as trees and trees only as timber

Hon. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey During debate on
NFMA, 1976
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Clearly, the new monitoring puzzle was going to
be more complex
Monitor forest ecosystems and social- economic
impacts
Reserved for future issues!
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We would need a broader view of the forest

• Biodiversity
• Habitat
• Forage
• Wood products
• Non-wood products
• Soil/water protection
• Recreation/tourism
• Cultural/spiritual

• Humans
• Management
• Pollution
• Animals
• Insects/disease
• Fire
• Weather/Climate
• Geologic events

• Flora
• Fauna
• Soils
• Water
• Air

Desired outcomes
Agents of change
Composition
Elements of Criterion 2 highlighted in blue
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And, repeated assessments have enlightened the
discussion if not the answers
Report
Type

• US National Report on Sustainable Forests 2003
  US
• Montreal Process First Forest Overview Rep. 2003
  Intnl
• EPA State of the Environment Report US
• HEINZ Report on the State of the Nations
  Ecosystems US
• UNEP Global Environmental Outlook Intnl
• Forest Resources of the United States, 2003 US
• Temperate-Boreal Forest Resource Assessment
  2000 Intnl
• Global Forest Resource Assessment 2000 Intnl
• Forest Resources of the United States, 1997 US
• Montreal Process First Approximation Report
  1997 Intnl

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on U.S. forests from local to global
FIA, the keystone of Criterion 2, has reported
Main information flow Feedback loop
Local
Sub-State region
State
Regional/ National
Global
International multi-process
National sector CI
National multi-sector
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2003 National Report on Sustainable Forests-
What the data showed
Indicators 2, 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, 31
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Other findings

• Area of mid to late successional forests is
  increasing
• Area of early successional or pioneer forests is
  declining
• Harvesting has leveled off but we are importing
  more wood than ever. More pressure on private
  forests.
• We have many regional and local issues that are
  masked by national level data

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What does it mean, who cares?

• National interest State Dept., Trade Rep, White
  House
• Foundation for multi-faceted US national and
  international policy
• State interest National Association of State
  Foresters
• Another way to leverage/influence better forest
  monitoring
• World is being globalized, need to keep up
• Industry interest AFPA, NCASI, others
  
• Protect commercial interests
• Protect market share, National CI and
  certification
• Environmental Groups Def.of Wildlife, WWF, TNC,
  others
• Better data to support their point of view
• Complement certification

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Making sense of it

• Putting continuous systems into consistent and
  meaningful discrete boxes is hard work.
• Making sense of the relationships between the
  stuff in those boxes is even harder!

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Moving forward on forest sustainability in the
U.S.

• The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and
  Sustainability Roundtable are committed to
  building on what we have learned by
• Assessing data gaps
• Continuing to involve stakeholders
• Improving coordination
• Refining the assessment framework
• Improving links to other resource sectors

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Moving forward across resource sectors in the
U.S.

• The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is
  taking on the task of integrating what we have
  learned and developing a framework to move
  forward in an organized way across resource
  sectors.
• FORESTS, RANGELANDS, CROPLANDS,
• URBAN, FRESHWATER, COASTAL MARINE

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Are all these efforts necessary?

• In the private sector, competition is seen as
  assuring the best product for the customer.
• In the public sector, competition is seen as
  redundant and a waste of taxpayer dollars.
• Hmmmmmm.

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A better outcome

• Some competition is critical to assuring all the
  key stakeholders have a viable space to voice
  their concerns, but it must be effectively
  managed.
• REMEMBER
• Sustainable forest management is a journey
• not just a destination.

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The Biggest Gap?

• The political courage and leadership to support
  and maintain progress toward the goals of
  sustainable forest management without knowing the
  outcome in advance.
• Assuring the collection of consistent, reliable
  data is the first critical step.

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And, a key consistency and reliablity iscore
data and common definitions
International Core Data
National Core Data
Regional Core Data
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If I were King.
Indicators affected
2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 26, 29, 31

• Fully implement FIA Annualized Inventory
• Complete the work on NVCS with NatureServe
• Complete development of Protected Areas Database
  with Conservation Biology Institute (CBI)
• Drop indicators 1 and 3 (data already in 2 and 4)
• Make data scalable to regions and lower for more
  reporting flexibility
• Change growing stock and merchantable in
  indicator 10 to standing stock and merchantable
  AND

2, 4, 9
2, 4, 9
1, 3
2, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 26, 29, 31
10
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YES.

• Continue the Roundtables
• and do another sustainability assessment
• thinking multi-sector, not just forests next time

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Questions?