A Quarter Century of Multipurpose Forest Inventories in the United States
ABSTRACT— Compiled are literature citations that constitutes an integrated knowledge base for comprehensive forest resource inventory, analysis, and planning. Citations include studies that used regional, field sample-based forest surveys. The focus is on nontraditional and novel technical uses tied to a regional forest resource inventory. This bibliography encompasses citations associated with U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) field surveys for the United States and its territories for the period 1975 through July 2001. Citations of collected works and selected documents concerning integrated assessments and multi-disciplinary surveys, representative citations associated with timber resource assessments, and all known M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations associated with FIA data since 1975, regardless of topic. Examples of the subjects addressed, the data and techniques available, and the uses to which they have, or can be, put, provide perspectives on common data needed from a multidisciplinary constituency.

Keywords: ecological inventories, forest inventory, hydrology, interdisciplinary studies, integrated assessments, monitoring, natural resource planning, range, recreation, timber, water, wildlife habitat.

INTRODUCTION
The scope and complexity of issues surrounding regional land use planning, and forest resource planning in particular, are enormous. The changing role of forests and forestry in society demands a comprehensive assessment. To be comprehensive, forest assessments must account not only for forest land use and timber volume, but other resources and associated values, and their interaction. Long-term planning and global assessments must also consider the impact of acid deposition, carbon sequestration, climate change, and sustainability of all resources.

This compilation of literature citations is for those (1) interested in the generation and use of regional, sample-based forest surveys for comprehensive analysis, (2) concerned with selecting the most appropriate multipurpose attributes and objectives, (3) conducting a critical examination of forest inventory measures, and (4) addressing forest resource supply and forest land issues. Other important user groups include stakeholders across a spectrum of disciplines and natural resource agencies--federal, state, private--and nongovernment organizations. Topics included are agroforestry, biogenic emissions, ecosystem disturbances, endangered forest-associated wildlife, forest soils, geographic information science (GIS), global climate change, inventory sampling designs, landscape and regional ecological processes,  land owner studies, remote sensing, and estimation of aesthetics, biomass, damage, recreation, understory species, shrub and tree biomass on nontimberland, wildlife habitat, and woodland. The focus is limited to these and other topics within the context of forest resource surveys conducted by the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program, specifically the field-based regional survey of earth cover throughout the United States.

This report is a sequel to Rudis’ (1991) “Wildlife habitat, range, recreation, hydrology, and related research using forest inventory and analysis surveys: a 12-year compendium.” The revision incorporates nearly all of the 421 citations in Rudis (1991) for the coterminous United States, extends the geographic range to Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories, and incorporates the period 1976 to July 2001. Revisions include  representative timber resource citations, selected citations of landmark technical articles concerning multi-disciplinary FIA surveys prior to 1976, and all known M.S. theses and Ph.D. dissertations associated with the FIA program since 1976, regardless of topic.

References:

  • Rudis, V. 2002.  USDA Forest Service research publications  A website with links for libraries and individuals on how to obtain paper copies of research publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
  • Rudis, V.A. 2002. Integrated knowledge database: a bibliography of ideas, perspectives, and research opportunities associated with FIA survey data. Poster presented at the Forest Inventory and Analysis national workshop; 2002 March 12-14; Las Vegas, NV. One 3'x4' panel. [Poster abstract]
  • Rudis, V.A. 1991. Wildlife habitat, range, recreation, hydrology, and related research using forest inventory and analysis surveys: a 12-year compendium. General Technical Report SO-84. New Orleans, LA: USDA Forest Service, Southern Forest Experiment Station. 61 p.  abstract & download information This first-ever compilation is a comprehensive bibliography covering a 1979-1990 and 421 citations for the continental United States, with additional citations of historically important and selected documents published 1974-1978. The citation data base is available in a number of formats. Viewable now is Table 1 from GTR-SO-84, with minor transposition of special characters (ASCII version).
A brief synthesis of the compilation, representing a collection of over 1,400 citations, includes a discussion of common opportunities and problems, information dissemination issues, and progress toward the goal of achieving comprehensive forest resource assessments. As with the 1991 edition, the focus on the newest version is on nontraditional (i.e., ecological, range, recreation, range, water, wildlife habitat data) and novel technical uses, such as GIS, modeling, associated ownership studies, and measurement techniques. Field sampling at ground locations for timber resources is increasingly intertwined with other resource measurements, so citations concerned with timber resource analysis have not been categorically excluded. But to keep the database to a manageable size, citations of the USDA Forest Service Resource Bulletin series that report traditional, largely timber-oriented, tabular information and limited analyses have been omitted.

If your citation belongs in one of these compilations or you feel corrections or revisions are needed, please let me know. Thanks in advance for your help. And please be patient if you have communicated new citations as draft versions are in review.
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Updated Wednesday, 12-May-2004 13:14:32 CDT by Vic Rudis.