Ensuring the health and sustainabilityof the nation’s forests requires scientifically credible and timely information about the extent, location, health, and ownership of these forests and the possible effects of global climate change. Forest managers and policy makers need detailed data to assess sustainability, to make important business decisions, to evaluate wildlife habitat, and for many other things. The Northern Research Station’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) team is an important part of the national FIA network, which provides information on northeastern, midwestern, and Great Plains forests.

2011 Research Highlights

Hurricanes Disturb Non-tree Subtropical Wet Forest Species Composition

Hurricane disturbance caused pronounced and persistent changes in the non-tree species composition of a subtropical wet forest. A unique long-term Forest Service dataset tracked the response and recovery of tropical forest herb, shrub, and vine communities to multiple hurricanes over 21 years on the 13-ha Bisley Experimental Watersheds in the Luquillo Experimental Forest, Puerto Rico. Analysis by Forest Service scientists found that hurricanes had altered non-tree community species composition by promoting the dominance of rapidly spreading ferns and vines.

How Large-scale Forest Conditions Influence Northern Goshawk Nesting

Efforts to better understand nesting habitat requirements of the northern goshawk, a forest-sensitive species in northern Wisconsin, were enhanced by a collaborative research-management project.  Forest Service scientists analyzed 10 years of nest survey data from the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest and found that the key determinant of goshawk nest occurrence was the ratio of conifer cover to aspen-birch cover surrounding a potential nest site. 

Tropical Wetlands Found To Be Among Largest Carbon Pools on Earth

In spite of the well known values and ecosystem services of tropical wetlands to biodiversity, fisheries, water quality and storm protection, few studies have examined the carbon stocks of these ecosystems or the carbon dynamics related to land cover change. Although it is abundantly clear that tropical wetlands, especially peat swamps and mangroves, are important in global C cycling, tremendous uncertainties exist about how they are changing, and their potential as a source and sink of greenhouse gasses. This information is greatly needed to better understand the global role of these ecosystems as well as for monitoring, reporting and verification in proposed programs for reducing deforestation or degradation as mitigation strategies to climate change. 

Forest Land Estimates Improved by Novel Automated Mapping Technique Using Winter Satellite Imagery

New satellite-based estimates are consistent with those from FIA plot-based data and suitable for filling the gaps between FIA plots

Most automated satellite-based approaches for mapping forest lands rely on summer satellite imagery and are usually inconsistent with FIA plot-based estimates. Incorporating winter imagery in the mapping approach helps reduce the abundant false positives for forest and forest disturbance that frequently occur during the growing season, especially where forest is intermixed with wetland and agricultural landscapes. Reliable estimates of forest lands between FIA field plots allow customers the opportunity to explore forest dynamics more confidently beyond the grid of FIA plots.

2010 Research Highlights

Shrubland birds and their habitats

Populations of shrubland birds all over North America have decreased to historical lows, causing great concern among managers, researchers, and the birding public. Birds are highly valued by Americans. According to a recent USFWS report, 20% of the US population is interested in bird watching, thus spending 85 billion dollars and creating over 800,000 jobs.  Unfortunately, 13 percent of the world’s birds are  threatened with extinction in the near future.  Shrubland birds require constant management, and thus, the need for reliable knowledge to guide management efforts is acute.

Wolf recovery and the future of Wisconsin’s forests: A trophic link?

Overabundant white-tailed deer populations have serious negative effects on understory plant community structure and composition.  Wolves, which are top predators of deer, have been recolonizing central Wisconsin since the early 1990s. NRS scientist Keith Moser and partners from the University of Georgia are measuring trophic cascade effects, that is, whether wolves are reducing local browse intensity by white-tailed deer and thus mitigating the biotic impoverishment of understory plant communities.

Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Program

Despite millions of dollars spent each year by federal, state, and local governments on remote sensing datasets, decision makers sometimes still find that they lack basic information about their community’s tree canopy because these datasets have not been converted into practical, readily interpretable information. In the Urban Tree Canopy (UTC) Assessments Program, NRS scientist Morgan Grove, with a partner from the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory, has developed advanced processing techniques that to help fill this information gap.

Housing growth in and near protected areas

America’s public lands include some of the most scenic and highly valued resources in the country and thus attract nearby housing growth. NRS researcher Susan Stewart and cooperators at the University of Wisconsin and Oregon State University analyzed housing data from 1940 to 2030, within and surrounding each national park, national forest and wilderness area.

2009 Research Highlights

Tree species distributions are responding to climate change

Changes in tree species distributions are a potential impact of climate change on forest ecosystems. Although NRS scientists have already examined this possibility with computer modeling, real-world examination of this possibility has been limited due to a lack of consistent annual forest inventories across the United States. However, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Forest Service, has now provided such inventories, and NRS scientists are now actually testing climate change hypotheses.

Updating information on forest resources

Northern Research Station (NRS) Forest Inventory and Analysis researchers, Patrick Miles, Charles Perry, Scott Pugh, and Ron Piva, in cooperation with FIA staff from the Southern, Northern, Rocky Mountain, Pacific Northwest Stations, and Washington Office, updated U.S. forest resource statistics from the 2002 Resources Planning Act (RPA) Assessment to provide information on the nation’s forests for 2007.

Data informs energy policy debates

Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) scientists provided the Forest Service Washington Office’s Legislative Affairs staff with a series of data summaries and maps. This information helped the Legislative Affairs staff demonstrate to lawmakers the important contribution that National Forest System (NFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands could make to the renewable energy portfolios of the United States.

Great Plains Initiative -- Preparing for emerald ash borer

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) National Inventory and Monitoring Applications Center (NIMAC), in partnership with cooperators from state forestry agencies in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas, processed data from a nonforest tree inventory aimed at assessing the potential impact of the emerald ash borer (EAB) and other factors on the states’ tree resources.

2008 Research Highlights

Database summarizes characteristics of private and corporate forest-owners

More than 50 percent of forested lands in the United States are owned by private citizens and corporations. A Northern Research Station publication and database makes it easier to understand who these owners are and how they use their land.

Improved online databases enable customized reports for natural resource partners

Forest Inventory Data Online (FIDO) catalogs the vast holdings of forest data collected over decades, and puts it at the fingertips of natural resource partners and the public. The improved database, developed by Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis scientists, allows users to create custom reports on the forest resources of the United States. This web based interactive tool provides easy and quick access to the latest FIA data for a wide range of users, including public and private land managers, planners and researchers who need the latest forest resource information.

2007 Research Highlights

State and regional carbon estimates now available for U.S. Forests

NRS researchers produced a tool that uses data from the Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis Program to produce state-level estimates of forest carbon stocks and net changes, beginning in the base year 1990.

Monitoring network helps Wisconsin Maintain its sustainable forest certification

To establish a monitoring network on Wisconsin’s state-owned forest lands, NRS Forest Inventory and Analysis scientists developed a fractal-based technique to create spatially balanced networks of sample plots. The technique assures an even distribution of plots across the forest and over time.

Better monitoring for less cost on the Mark Twain National Forest

NRS scientists worked collaboratively with the Mark Twain National Forest to investigate ways to provide inventory and monitoring information. Each National Forest must develop a monitoring plan to track the implementation and effectiveness of its forest plan.