In 1999, the Maine Forest Service (MFS) and USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program implemented a new system for inventorying and monitoring Maine's forests. A salient feature of the new inventory process is a nearly threefold improvement in timeliness as full inventories are completed every 5 years. The 2003 results represent the first full set of annual inventory and growth data since the end of the extreme spruce-budworm epidemic (SBE) of the 1970's and 1980's. The effects of the SBE continue to affect the composition, structure, and distribution of Maine's forested ecosystems. Insight into current forest dynamics will help stakeholders plan for potential future disturbances like SBE. The area of forest land in Maine has remained stable since the 1970's. Although relatively small acreages of forest are converted to other land uses these conversions often remove highly valued forests such as white pine. The total inventory volume of live trees increased slightly, indicating the beginning of a response of Maine's forest to the tremendous devastation from SBE. The spatial distribution of sapling-size spruce and fir across the State reveals a general abundance of regeneration, foretelling waves of merchantable wood in coming years.
In 2000, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation's Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry and the Northern Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis unit implemented a new annual system for inventorying and monitoring Pennsylvania's forests. This report includes data from 2000 to 2004. Pennsylvania's forest-land base is stable, covering 16.6 million acres or 58 percent of land area. More than 660,000 acres of forest land were lost from 1989 to 2004, mostly to residential or industrial development. However, there was a 617,500-acre gain in forest land, mostly from agricultural land. Fifty-four percent of forest land is owned by families and individuals. Forest types with red maple as a dominant species have increased, while stands with sugar maple as a dominant have decreased. The distribution of forest land by stand-size class has been shifting toward large stands that now account for 6 of 10 acres. The area of forest has increased in the poor and moderate stocking classes and decreased in the full and overstocked classes. Hemlock, sugar maple, and oaks are poised to be less dominant in the future. Increases in red maple are slowing while black birch continues to increase. Sawtimber volume totals 88.9 billion board feet, an average of about 5,000 board feet per acre. Increases in sawtimber inventory have slowed over time. Currently, only half of the forest land that should have advance regeneration is adequately stocked with high-canopy species, and only one-third has adequate regeneration for commercially desirable timber species. Grass/forb and rhizomous ferns dominate understory communities, accounting for nearly one-third of the total nontree vegetative cover sampled. Several exotic diseases and insects threaten the health of Pennsylvania's forests. Exoticinvasive plants threaten native plant diversity and forest health; however, monitoring efforts are only beginning to quantify their distribution and abundance. Stressors such as drought, acidic deposition, and ground-level ozone pollution are adversely affecting the State's forests. Continued monitoring is required to gain a more complete understanding of these impacts on this valuable resource.
Foreword Forests at a tipping pointOhio's forests are a critical component of the state's natural resources. Covering nearly 8 million acres, or 30 percent of the state, these diverse forests support important biological communities and create habitat for wildlife, forest products, clean water, and opportunities for recreation. Essential to making sound decisions about Ohio's forests is credible information. Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data help fill this need. Such data tell us where we are and where we are going, and they provide the basis for making informed decisions about how we can sustain our forests for future generations.The fifth inventory of Ohio's forests suggests that we are at a tipping point. Ohio's forests hold more wood, provide more wildlife habitat, and store more carbon than 15 years ago. Yet, for the first time since the 1940s, the acreage of Ohio's forest land has not increased, and some parts of the state have seen large losses in forest cover. More Ohioans than ever own forest land and enjoy the many benefits that forests provide. But, as Ohio's forest lands are subdivided and fragmented, the ability of these forests to provide timber, wildlife habitat, recreation, and solitude is reduced. Oak-hickory forests make up over one-half of the state's forests. Oaks as seedlings and saplings, however, have declined in abundance, and oaks will likely play a smaller role in Ohio's future forests. The quality and value of our timber has increased during the past 15 years, and landowners intend to harvest trees on onefifth of Ohio's forested acres in the next 5 years. However, only 4 percent of forest landowners have a formal management plan for their forests, and fewer than one in seven seeks any sort of advice before making decisions that will affect them and their forests for decades.John F. Kennedy said: "It is our task in our time and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours." The data presented in this report clearly highlight the challenges our forests face: fragmentation, uninformed management, loss of oak, invasive species, and a host of other concerns. How we address these concerns, how we balance forest conservation and sustainable use, will determine the forests that future generations experience and the benefits they receive. Doubtless, the FIA reports of tomorrow will document the successes, or the failures, of the choices we make today. IntroductionThis is the fifth inventory of Ohio's forests, the first using a new annualized inventory system. Previous inventories were completed for 1952 (Hutchison and Morgan 1956), 1968(Kingsley and Mayer 1970), 1979(Dennis and Birch 1981), and 1991(Griffith et al. 1993. These inventories provided a snapshot of the forest for specific periods in time after which no new information was available until the next full inventory of the State. Henceforth, inventory data for the State will be updated annually and full rem...
The first full remeasurement of the annual inventory of the forests of Vermont and New Hampshire was completed in 2012 and covers nearly 9.5 million acres of forest land, with an average volume of nearly 2,300 cubic feet per acre. The data in this report are based on visits to 1,100 plots located across Vermont and 1,091 plots located across New Hampshire. Forest land is dominated by the maple/beech/birch forest-type group, which occupies 60 percent of total forest land area. Of the forest land, 64 percent consists of large diameter trees, 27 percent contains medium diameter trees, and 9 percent contains small diameter trees. The volume of growing stock on timberland has continued to increase since the 1980s and currently totals nearly 19 billion cubic feet. The average annual net growth of growing stock on timberland from 2007 to 2012 is approximately 380 million cubic feet per year. Important species compositional changes include increases in the number of red maple trees and American beech saplings which coincide with decreases in the number of eastern white pine and sugar maple trees as well as eastern white pine and northern red oak saplings. Additional information is presented on forest attributes, land use change, carbon, timber products, species composition, regeneration, and forest health. Detailed information on forest inventory methods and data quality estimates is included on the DVD accompanying this report. Tables of population estimates and a glossary are also included. AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank inventory crew members from Vermont and New Hampshire for their help:
The second full annual inventory of Pennsylvania's forests reports a stable base of 16.7 million acres of forest land. Northern hardwoods and mixed-oak forest-type groups account for 54 and 32 percent of the forest land, respectively. The State's forest land averages about 61 dry tons of wood per acre and almost 6,500 board feet (International ¼-inch rule) per acre on timberland. The ratio of average annual net growth-to-removals for growing-stock trees on timberland was about 2:1. Additional information is presented on forest land use, forest resources, forest sustainability, forest health (including regeneration), and timber products. Detailed information on forest inventory methods and data quality estimates are included in a DVD at the back of the report. Tables of population estimates and a glossary are also included. Printed on recycled paper The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA,
The annual inventory of West Virginia's forests, completed in 2013, covers nearly 12.2 million acres of forest land with an average volume of more than 2,300 cubic feet per acre. This report is based data collected from 2,808 plots located across the State. Forest land is dominated by the oak/hickory forest-type group, which occupies 74 percent of total forest land area. Seventyeight percent of forest land area consists of a plurality of large diameter trees, 15 percent contains medium diameter trees, and 7 percent contains small diameter trees. The volume of growing stock on timberland has been rising since the 1950s and currently totals over 25 billion cubic feet. The average annual net growth of growing-stock trees on timberland from 2008 to 2013 is approximately 519 million cubic feet per year. Important species compositional changes include increases in sapling numbers of yellow-poplar, American beech, and noncommercial species, which coincide with decreases in numbers of trees and saplings of oak species. Additional information is presented on forest attributes, land use change, carbon, timber products, species composition, regeneration, and forest health. Detailed information on forest inventory methods, data quality estimates, and summary tables of population estimates, are available at http://dx.
This report summarizes the third cycle of annualized inventory of Pennsylvania with field data collected from 2009 through 2014. Pennsylvania has 16.9 million acres of forest land dominated by sawtimber stands of oak/hickory and maple/beech/birch forest-type groups. Volumes continue to increase as the forests age with an average of 2,244 cubic feet per acre on timberland. Sawtimber volume has risen 24 percent in 10 years to 115 billion board feet. Net growth outpaced removals by a ratio of 2.4:1 on timberland. Additional information on land-use change, fragmentation, ownership, forest composition, structure and age distribution, carbon stocks, regeneration, invasive plants, insect pests, and wood products is also presented. Sets of supplemental tables are available online at https://doi.org/10.2737/NRS-RB-111 and contain: 1) tables that summarize quality assurance and 2) a core set of tabular estimates for a variety of forest resources. AcknowledgmentsThe authors would like to thank those who contributed to this assessment of Pennsylvania's forest resources. The dedicated and vital data collection staff who took the measurements upon which this analysis is based are:
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