FIA NATIONAL BIOMASS PROJECT

James A. Westfall

U.S. Forest ServiceForest Inventory and Analysis

FIA BIOMASS STUDY - RECAP Initial focus is on top 10 species in the West and

top 20 species in the East – these species account for approximately 65% of tree volume in the East and 80% of tree volume in the West.

Cooperators/Technical assistance Univ. Maine, Virginia Tech, Oregon State,

Michigan State, Univ. Montana, Univ. Georgia NCASI, Rayonier, Potlatch, Weyerhaeuser SRS RWU-4704, Forest Products Lab (Madison) Forest Management Service Center

Trees felled and measured thru 2014 UGA 118 OSU 130 MSU 169 VT 141 ME 106 UM 120 Total 784

FIA BIOMASS STUDY

Legacy data – leverage existing FS, industrial, and university data to better capture spatial gradients in allometry and wood density. Taper data Biomass studies Density measures

Given the cost of field work, the legacy data has a tremendous amount of value. Study-to-study variability in definitions, measurements, etc. make it a challenge to identify which ones will be ultimately useful.

FIA BIOMASS STUDYNumber of Legacy Taper and Biomass Trees

CRM Evaluation (compared to Legacy Data)

Gap Analysis –tree size and spatial coverage

Recent Publications Temesgen, H., K.P. Poudel, A. Gray, D. Affleck, and J. Sessions. (in press) Measurements and

Estimation of Above Ground Biomass of The Western U.S. Forests. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research

  Poudel, K.P., H. Temesgen, and A.N. Gray. (in press). Evaluation of Sampling Strategies to Estimate

Crown Biomass of Conifers. Forest Ecosystems

Zhao, D., M. Kane, D. Markewitz, R. Teskey, M. Clutter. (in press). Tree Additive Biomass Equation System. Forest Science

Weiskittel, A.R., D.W. MacFarlane, P.J. Radtke, D.L.R. Affleck, H. Temesgen, J.A. Westfall, C.W. Woodall, J.W. Coulston. (in press). A Call to Improve Methods for Estimating Tree Biomass for Regional and National Assessments. Journal of Forestry

Ver Plank, N.R., D.W. MacFarlane. A vertically-integrated whole-tree biomass model. Trees

Presentations Various regional meetings (NEMO, SOMENS, etc.); 2012 FIA Symposium session Session at 2015 FIA Symposium

• Two tree biomass model systems were developed using nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression (NSUR)

– Guaranteeing additivity among tree component & total tree biomass

– Accounting for the inherent correlation among the biomass components

– Addressing heteroscedasticity by having each equation with its own weight function

• The system with DBH, HT and crown measurements (DCB, CL, CW) leads better the prediction of component biomass, especially branch and foliage biomass, than the DBH and HT only based system.

Tree Additive Biomass Equation Systems - Summary

New model predicts cumulative mass / volume of bole and crown

– Bole form is a subset of whole-tree form.

Relative crown height

LABORATORY ANALYSIS

LABORATORY ANALYSIS

Expansion to 3 lab locations to distribute workload

Pineville, LA – Les Groom (SRS)Athens, GA – Edward Andrews (SRS)Madison, WI – Tom Eberhardt (FPL)

Interest from industry partners in fiber properties – now saving radial strip from disc in addition to a processed sample.

FUTURE

Continue felled-tree work and obtain additional ancillary/legacy data. Possible increase in funding depending on FIA FY16 budget.

Develop modeling framework(s) that meets FIA needs. Summer 2015 will largely focus on continued advancement of the analytical work.

Once potential framework(s) identified Evaluate pro/cons and performance Better understand the role of ancillary/legacy data Identify and address gaps (tree size, spatial)