Puerto Rico's Forests, 2009 Thomas J. Brandeis and Jeffery A. Turner United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service D E E P R A U R T TMENT OF AGRICU L Southern Research Station Resource Bulletin SRS–191 About the Authors Thomas J. Brandeis is a Research Forester with the Forest Inventory and Analysis Research Work Unit, Southern Research Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Knoxville, TN 37919. Jeffery A. Turner is a Forester with the Forest Inventory and Analysis Research Work Unit, Southern Research Station, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Knoxville, TN 37919. All photos by Thomas J. Brandeis, Southern Research Station, unless otherwise noted. Front cover: top left, forest tree roots bind the soil to steep slopes, protecting them from erosion.; top right, the view from El Yunque National Forest towards the town of Luquillo on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico.; bottom, Playa Escondida in the Northeast Ecological Corridor, Puerto Rico. Back cover: top left, El Yunque National Forest.; top right, a freshwater seep in the El Yunque National Forest.; bottom, lower montane forest understory. The native island peacock orchid (Psychilis macconnelliae). (photo by Dr. Humfredo Marcano, Southern Research Station) www.srs.fs.usda.gov Puerto Rico's Forests, 2009 Thomas J. Brandeis and Jeffery A. Turner Subtropical wet forest in northeastern Puerto Rico. Welcome... We are pleased to announce the publication of the 2009 forest inventory for Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico’s Forests, 2009, published by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Forest Service, is a valuable resource for managers of the island’s forests. The FIA program has included Puerto Rico in its federally mandated inventories of our Nation’s forests since 1980; this particular inventory adds Mona Island to the installation of permanent plots, an important addition in light of the many conservation efforts by both Ariel E. Lugo Federal and local agencies to preserve this nature reserve. Forest cover on mainland Puerto Rico has remained relatively stable, according to the 2009 forest inventory. The number of trees removed, i.e., anthropogenic interventions to cut and clear forested land, has been remarkably small, according to the inventory. From 2004 to 2009, Puerto Rico’s average annual net removal of live trees on nonindustrial private forest land was 85,028 cubic feet of wood volume, a small amount compared to the 1.2 billion cubic feet of wood found in the island’s forests. This finding might be attributed to the nationwide economic downturn of 2008 that impacted real estate and other undertakings Robert L. Doudrick in Puerto Rico. Since 85 percent of Puerto Rico’s forests are on private land, the economic downturn effectively halted indiscriminate development of many of Puerto Rico’s forests otherwise vulnerable to development through absence of statutory protection. We should remain vigilant in protecting our natural resources. As both the national and local economies begin to recover, our forest resources will remain vulnerable to competing uses. By promoting sustainable forestry and agroforestry practices, and by providing up-to-date tree census information from the FIA program, we can help private landowners find suitable Cristina Cabrera alternatives that not only produce income but also conserve their forested land. D E E P R A U R T TMENT OF AGRICU L Ariel E. Lugo Director, International Institute of Tropical Forestry U.S. Forest Service Robert L. Doudrick Director, Southern Research Station, U.S. Forest Service Cristina Cabrera State Forester and Special Assistant, Office of the Secretary Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources ii About Forest Inventory and Analysis Inventory Reports Foreword Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (Farm Bill). These inventories The Forest and Rangeland Renewable feature: (1) a nationally consistent, fixed- Resources Research Act of 1978 mandated radius, four-point plot configuration; inventories of our Nation’s forest (2) a systematic national sampling design resources. These inventories are part of a consisting of a base grid derived by continuing nationwide undertaking by the subdividing the Environmental Monitoring regional experiment stations of the U.S. and Assessment Program grid into roughly Department of Agriculture Forest Service 6,000-acre hexagons; (3) integration of and cooperating State forestry agencies. the forest inventory and forest health Forest inventories in the 13 Southern States monitoring sampling designs; (4) annual (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, measurement of a fixed proportion of Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North permanent plots; (5) reporting of data or Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, data summaries within 6 months after Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), the yearly sampling; (6) a default 5-year moving Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and average estimator, with provisions for the Territory of U.S. Virgin Islands are optional estimators based on techniques for conducted by the Southern Research Station updating information; and (7) a summary (SRS), Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) report every 5 years. Additional information Research Work Unit (SRS–4801) operating about annual surveys is available at http:// from its headquarters in Knoxville, TN, and fia.fs.fed.us/. offices in Asheville, NC, and Starkville, MS. The primary objective of these appraisals The SRS FIA Research Work Unit and the is to develop and maintain the resource International Institute of Tropical Forestry information needed to formulate sound (IITF) began data collection for this fourth forest policies and programs. forest inventory of Puerto Rico in 2005. The usual FIA strategy involves rotating Additional information about any aspect of measurements of five systematic samples this inventory may be obtained from: (or panels), each of which represents about 20 percent of all plots in the State. The Forest Inventory and Analysis 20-percent systematic sample is referred Southern Research Station to as one panel of inventory data. A panel 4700 Old Kingston Pike may take more than or less than 1 year Knoxville, TN 37919 to complete. In Puerto Rico, however, the Telephone: 865-862-2000 sampling is completed in 4 panels and cycle William G. Burkman 4 measurements were taken from 2005 Program Manager to 2009. This bulletin provides inventory statistics and discusses the principal findings This resource bulletin highlights changes from the full remeasurement of all four in Puerto Rico’s forest resources as panels of annual inventory data from the interpreted from the second cycle of annual mapped-plot design. Forest land estimates remeasurements. Annual inventories of the and inventory volume, growth, removals, United States, associated Commonwealth and mortality statistics are summarized from and Territory forests were originally the data collected for the four panels. mandated by the Agricultural Research iii About Forest Inventory and Analysis Inventory Reports Two previous periodic inventories inventory. Improving the accuracy Acknowledgments and an update completed in 1980, or efficiency of the FIA surveys is 1985, and 1990 have provided justification for altering how the We gratefully acknowledge the estimates for measuring changes inventory is conducted. However, U.S. Forest Service’s International and trends at the Commonwealth change detection and trend analysis Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF), level. However, caution is advised over time become more difficult due Puerto Rico Department of Natural when making such comparisons. to differences in inventory methods. and Environmental Resources The annual system represents a (DNER), and University of Puerto dramatic departure from methods The 2009 inventory data, as well Rico (UPR) Río Piedras Campus used to conduct the previous as data for other States and survey for their assistance with the forest periodic surveys. Moreover, years, are available at http://apps. inventory of Puerto Rico. FIA also the annual system continues to fs.fed.us/fiadb-downloads/datamart. thanks other public agencies and evolve as changing technologies html and the tools to query those the many private landowners who are adapted and implemented to data at http://www.fia.fs.fed.us/ provided access to measurement improve FIA surveys. The 2009 tools-data/default.asp. Tabular plots. inventory, for instance, incorporates summaries of the current resource land area stratification estimates statistics for Puerto Rico used in this The following field and office based on satellite imagery which report are available at http://srsfia2. personnel contributed to the replaces the aerial photography fs.fed.us/states/puerto_rico.shtml. inventory effort: estimation method used in Click on the 2009 survey year. previous inventories, including Tabular data for previous surveys SRS FIA the 2001–04 Puerto Rico forest also are available at that Web site. Luis Ortiz López Dr. Humfredo Marcano Vince Few Angie Rowe Lewis Zimmerman Greg Smith Terry Riley Jeremy Grayson IITF Dr. Ariel E. Lugo Dr. Skip Van Bloem Dr. Eileen H. Helmer Iván Vicéns DNER Edgardo González Miguel García Carlos Diez Hana López Torres Daniel Cruz Torres José Sustache María Chardon Avilés Silkia Colón Soto UPR Scientists like Dr. Humfredo Marcano with the FIA program collect data annually on the forests of Puerto Rico. (photo by Iván Vicéns, IITF, U.S. Forest Service) Dr. Elvia Meléndez-Ackerman Jose Fumero iv Contents Page About Forest Inventory and