United States Department of Agriculture Forest Inventory and Analysis Fiscal Year 2017 Business Report Forest Service FS-1131 May 2019 Cover photo: Granite Chief, Tahoe National Forest, Placerville, CA. Photo courtesy of Rand Snyder, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). 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Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or (3) email: [email protected]. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. United States Department of Agriculture Forest Inventory and Analysis Fiscal Year 2017 Business Report Prepared by Peggy S.B. Castillo, Forest Service Research and Development, Northern Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis, St. Paul, MN Gregory A. Reams, Forest Service Research and Development, Forest Inventory and Analysis, Washington, DC and W. Brad Smith, Forest Service Research and Development, Forest Inventory and Analysis, Washington, DC (retired) Forest Service FS-1131 May 2019 Fiscal Year 2017 Business Report i Contents Executive Summary ..............................................................1 Glossary of Terms Used in Appendixes ..............................53 Introduction ...........................................................................3 Appendix A. Contacts .........................................................56 Changes From Previous Years’ Business Reports .................4 Appendix B. Tables .............................................................57 Fiscal Year 2017 Program Overview ....................................5 Outputs and Products ...........................................................6 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1. FIA implementation status, FY 2017 ................ 6 Program Resources ..............................................................7 FIA Grants and Partners’ Contributions ........................9 Figure 2. FIA program available funds and expenses FIA Data Availability ..................................................10 by category, FY 2017 ......................................... 7 Quality Assurance .......................................................11 Figure 3. FIA appropriated funding level, Regional Program Accomplishments for FY 2017 .............13 FYs 2004–2017 .................................................. 8 Northern Research Station FIA Program .....................13 Figure 4. FIA program employees by job group, Pacific Northwest Research Station FIA Program .......16 FY 2017 .............................................................. 8 Rocky Mountain Research Station, Interior West FIA Program.........................................17 Figure 5. Grants and agreements by recipient group, Southern Research Station FIA Program .....................19 FY 2017 .............................................................. 9 National FIA Program ..................................................22 Figure 6. Availability of online FIA data, FY 2017 ......... 10 FIA Data Requests and Access ....................................22 Figure 7. Publication status of State reports, FY 2017 .... 11 Partners ........................................................................22 FY 2017 Spatial Data Requests ...................................23 Figure 8. Urban forest species composition as a FY 2017 Web Tools .....................................................23 percentage of all trees, Austin, TX. This data Consultations by FIA Staff ...........................................24 and more are included in FIA’s first published urban report—Austin’s Urban Forest, 2014 ..... 13 National Inventory and Monitoring Applications Center ...25 National Forest Collaboration ......................................25 Figure 9. High-resolution maps showing windbreaks (left) facilitate monitoring in the dynamic Other FIA Program Features ...............................................27 agricultural landscapes of the Central United Urban Forest Inventory ................................................27 States. In this area, 33 acres of windbreaks Forest Products, Utilization, and have been removed between 2009 and 2012 ... 14 National Woodland Owner Survey Studies ...............29 i-Tree ...........................................................................30 Figure 10. Gallery pattern of eastern larch beetle under Ecosystem Health Indicator Surveys ...........................31 the bark of an infested tamarack ..................... 14 Beyond Standing Trees: The Evolution of FIA Figure 11. Aerial view of tamarack mortality caused by Ecosystem Health Indicators ....................................32 eastern larch beetle .......................................... 15 Special Partnerships Spanning Cultures ......................33 Figure 12. Example of exploring oak species distributions Program Safety ...................................................................34 in Arizona ........................................................ 17 Regional Safety Highlights for FY 2017 ............................37 Figure 13. Different algorithms (shown with different colored Northern Research Station FIA Safety Highlights .......37 lines and named in the legend) produced very Pacific Northwest Research Station different forest cover loss estimates for different FIA Safety Highlights ................................................37 parts of the country in the Landscape Change Interior West (IW) FIA Safety Highlights ...................37 Monitoring System comparative study.............. 18 Southern Research Station FIA Safety Highlights .......38 Figure 14. Multiple sprouts along the tree trunk, crown Comparing FY 2016 Plans With FY 2017 dieback (inset A), and D-shaped holes in the bark Accomplishments and FY 2018 Plans ..............................39 (inset B) on this urban-dwelling ash (Fraxinus Fiscal Year 2018 FIA Program Direction ............................48 spp.) tree in Knoxville, TN, are typical signs of an emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) Long-Term Strategic Direction ...........................................49 infestation ....................................................... 19 Conclusions .........................................................................52 Fiscal Year 2017 Business Report iii Figure 15. Open montane longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.) Appendix Tables stand with longleaf seedlings and saplings coming out of the grass stage on the Oakmulgee Ranger Table B-1. Performance measures for the FY 2017 FIA District in Alabama ........................................... 20 program ......................................................... 58 Figure 16. Model predictions of forest harvesting and Table B-2. Financial statement for the FY 2017 FIA conversion along the United States/Canadian program Forest Service R&D funds .............. 59 border in northern Maine show most of the forest Table B-3a. Federal staffing (FTEs) for the FY 2017 FIA lost to development occurred in Canada, and program ......................................................... 60 although annual rates of harvesting (normalized for Table B-3b. Estimate of cooperator staffing funded by FIA the total amount of forest area in each country) are grants and agreements (FTEs) for the FY 2017 roughly similar, the forest cut blocks on the U.S. FIA program .................................................. 60 side are noticeably larger .................................. 21 Table B-3c. Estimate of total federally funded staffing Figure 17. Requests made to the FIA Spatial Data (FTEs) for the FY 2017 FIA program ........... 60 Services Center in 2017 ................................... 22 Table B-4. Partners’ contributions toward implementing Figure 18. Urban forest inventory implementation status . 28 FIA in FY 2017 ............................................. 61 Figure 19. i-Tree users ......................................................