USFS Inventory and Monitoring Review Final Observations and Recommendations John MoserFrank Sapio Steve PrisleyBill Stewart Janette Kaiser Mette Loyche Wilkie Catherine JeschMike Clutter

The Participants Dr. John Moser (Panel Chair) – Professor Emeritus, Purdue University Dr. Mike Clutter (Panel Co-Chair) – Professor, Warnell School of Forestry, University of Georgia Ms. Janette Kaiser – Director of Rangeland Resources, USFS Dr. Steven Prisley – Associate Professor, College of Natural Resources, Virginia Tech Mr. Frank Sapio – Head, Forest Health Monitoring, USFS Mr. Bill Stewart – Public Service Professor, College of Natural Resources, University of California at Berkeley Ms. Mette Loyche-Wilkie – Forester, FAO, Rome Italy Ms. Katherine Jesch – Facilitator, Portland Oregon

Executive Summary Conducted the SPA Review July outside of Portland Oregon – a great location The review team spent about 2.5 days visiting with a wide range of I&M staff and other stakeholders We are quite impressed with the breadth, depth, and recent progress of the FIA program We struggled with understanding the other objectives and implementation of the I&M program The completed the OMB quantitative measures and they clearly document that FIA is performing quite well

Executive Summary We reviewed each of the four portfolios under FIA mission and objectives Data collection Analysis and Reporting New and Emerging Issues and Opportunities New Research and Technology Development The SPA team also reviewed Budgets and the budgeting function Computer resources and technology management Human resources and personnel management And a bunch of other stuff...

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 While the team was somewhat uncomfortable with these projects and how they are evaluated, we recognize the need to fund such opportunities at the regional level

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

Portfolios We will focus our comments on the four portfolios used during the review to split up the program (however we do believe that significant overlap exists among portfolios) 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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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)

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)

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

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 R&D Units in all Inventory and Monitoring efforts

Quantitative Measures - Relevance AVG Relevance Overall

Quantitative Measures - Quality Quality Ave Overall

Quantitative Measures - Performance Performance Ave Overall Program

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

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 I&M 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

Program Assessment The I&M 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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