PowerPoint Presentation

Program ExpansionsA Brief History

Early 20th Century Timberland End of 20th Century Forestland

In the 21st Century Today Land Use Change Tomorrow Treed Lands?Day After Tomorrow All Veg?

1A history of program expansions and the opportunity for more.Program ExpansionsThe Broader the look; the Better the Parts

Timberland to Forestland Timberland; Reserved Forestland;Unproductive ForestlandForestland plus Land Use ChangeForestlandUrbanAgriculture RangelandWater

Land Use Change NO Trees 2History of evolving focusa broader look refines knowledge of component parts of the whole60 yrs to make first leap of recognizing the intrinsic values and benefits of reserved and unproductive forests, and improved timberland estimates as a resultTook another 20 years to remotely monitor all land-uses and their change -- again broader look at all land-uses ultimately improves our forestland estimates.spatial distribution of forests, changes, ability to project, carbon sequestration changes, etcHowever trees dont cease to exist just because the land use changed.Trees Falling thru Gap

Not an Acre Not 120 WideWrong Land Use3Currently lots of trees falling thru the Gap because they dont fall on lands meeting FIAs definition of Forestland.Why Fill the Gap

All trees:Sequester CarbonProvide HabitatFilter WaterStabilize SoilsProvide BiomassEnhance BiodiversityCreate JobsSome trees:Increase crop yieldsProtect livestockConserve energyImprove health and safety

Handy trees should be tally trees!4All trees important and should be counted if we want a truly comprehensive picture.Filling the GapOne Constituency at a TimeTrees on Non-ForestlandsUrbanAgricultural Working TreesRiparianRangelands

5Trees on non-forestlands logically broken down into constituencies.One at a timeFilling the GapOne Constituency at a TimeNew Constituency = SupportNew Support = FundingDirectIndirectNew Funding = Filling the Gap WITHOUT compromising the base forestland mission

6New constituency=new supporters=new money to initiate the expansion without compromising based effort.Filling the GapUrbanLots of Statewide Urban PilotsIN, WI, TN, CO, WA, OR, CA, HI, AKConfirmed we canQuantified urban forestsConfirmed value and benefitsNot resulted in strategic national investmentMaybe the scale is wrong??? FIA scale.. urban forests of USAUrban Constituency Scalemy city

7Urban tree inventories primedLots of pilots, not resulted in strategic investment. Maybe the scale is wrong.Filling the GapUrban

Vibrant Cities Initiative (http://vcuf.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/vcuf_report.pdf)Urban areas - where most people live (84%) and vote!Urban areas viewed as ecosystemsPeople, infrastructure, and forest intermix/interactUrban forests key to vibrant urban environmentsAt the root of every vibrant city is an urban forestEcosystem key to scale issueCore Based Statistical Areas Scale at which FIA can contribute

8Bridging the scale gap in FIA strategic goals vs local goalsWork at the ecosystem scale -- urban ecosystems = Core Based Statistical AreasGreater metropolitan area of Minneapolis/St Paul.encompasess 7 counties.FIA can contributeFilling the Gap - Defining Urban Stratum

9Core Based Statistical Areas include entire county(ies) around a major urban city TOO BIGSee Duluth, MN and St Louis CountySee Bangor/Brewer, ME and Penobscot CountyThis is too broad a framework for defining urban inventory boundariesToo many rural forest plots called urban when they are not even close to urban areaNeed to refine.Filling the Gap - Urban

10Within CBSA only concerned with plots falling in urban areas/clusters (blue boundary based on census pop density)Within the blue boundary special focus on city of interest (red boundarysome level of intensification above 1/6000)Annualized with rural

Filling the GapUrban 12 Vibrant City Recommendations (Goals):Create a national education and awareness campaign.Foster urban forestry and natural resources stewardship and volunteerism.Create sustainable jobs in urban forestry and green infrastructure.Cultivate partnerships between public and private sectors.Develop new public administration models for urban ecosystems.Create comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional Urban Regional Natural Resource Plans.Integrate federal agencies green infrastructure goals.Establish energy efficiency programs that emphasize the use of trees.Ensure equal access to urban forestry and green infrastructure resources.Support collaborative urban ecosystem-focused research.Encourage open access to and use of social assessment tools.Establish national Vibrant Cities Standards.

1112 recommendations of Vibrant Cities initiative.

Filling the GapUrban FIA contributions to 12 Vibrant City goals:Baseline accounting of urban forests Long-term monitoring of change in urban forestsValuate urban forest benefits and servicesPlatform for sample intensification/augmentation Nationally consistent methods and procedures Data sharing and distribution tools Job opportunities

12Right scale = opportunity for a 2-way street

Filling the GapUrban FIA BenefitsExtends FIA to voting populaceMakes FIA key to their needsBroadens support networkParks and People FoundationICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability USAChicago Wilderness Tree Care Industry Association Urban Greenspaces Institute New York City Department of Parks & Recreation Arbor Day Foundation TreePeople, Inc. Cascade Land Conservancy Congress for New Urbanism Trees Forever Open Space Institute International Society of Arboriculture Sacramento Tree Foundation Sustainable Urban Forests CoalitionNew York Restoration Project Society for Municipal Arborists Alliance for Community Trees National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council

Strategic urban forest inventoryBuilt one metro area at a timeAllows seamless urban to rural monitoring

132-way street FIA contributes and benefitsBroaden the FIA support networkVibrant cities has 8-year plan to move into all cities >1million people tiering down in coverage as size smaller, but eventually all urban areas.Build a strategic urban inventory one metro area at a time.Filling the GapUrban Other Logical PartnerDave Nowak, FS R&D, NRSUrban Forest SpecialistEstablished user baseEstablished partnershipsDoes urban forest inventory for a livingPartner in all our urban pilotsHas developed softwareI-TreeUrban Forest Effects Model (UFORE)Has read and emulated the little green bookEstablished processing engineEstablished reporting format

14Need to build a collaborative/cooperative relationship with DaveWe dont have to reinvent the wheelWe need to take advantage of the guy who already does urban inventory for a living.Filling the Gap--Urban PrefieldFieldProcessingAnalysisDistributionStaged CooperationFIAI-Tree/D. Nowak

Conceptual Partnering Model Old ModelState Pilot ModelNew ModelFuture Model?15Conceptual model of how i-tree/d. nowak and fia have/can cooperateCurrently at the tuning fork stage with state pilots . Front end (plot selection, pre-field, field) meshedNeed to move to the transistor stage.making the backend, the delivery end, look the sameplatform for tool developmentIn future possibly mesh the processing enginesif beneficial/necessary

Filling the Gap --Urban FIA LeadI-Tree Lead

New FIA / I-Tree Partnering Model

Plot Selection- overlay new FIA grid on top of any existing grid to facilitate trending/change estimation if resources availableMIDAS modify to capture/edit combined field manual data on single-plot design and dual design for FIA forest plots in urbanPre-Field determine visitation; prepare navigational aids; consistency in cover/use calls with FIA/Urban/ICEMIDAS post-field edit; create urban output file that is UFORE input ready, streamline the pass to UFOREFIELD FIA train, certify, and QA; data collection (feds, states, cities, or contracts)NIMS process traditional FIA rural data as normalI-Tree Dave et al. analyze and publish typical UFORE report embellished with FIA dataI-Tree process urban data through UFORE; accommodate FIA table outputs, condition weighting, error estimation, change estimation as practical/over time FIA pass estimation weighting info to I-Tree/UFORE engineI-Tree create FIADB-like standardized output file from UFORE that has UFORE variables concatenated at appropriate levels (tree, condition, plot)I-Tree create a new level of the I-Tree database to store FIA-certified urban forest inventory data (the standardized FIADB-like file from UFORE)FIA Develop data distribution tool to hit against FIADB-like UFORE output UrbanEvalidator16Partnering to transition to the NEW transitor modelAll steps a partnership but logical leadership changesGeneral idea of agreed to concepts (lots of details missing and to be worked out)

Filling the GapUrban Dave Nowak design Single 1/10th acre fixed Fast and efficient in citiesFIA design Cluster of 4 - 1/6th acre fixed Clunky in cities

Pragmatic Suggestion

17Differences in designs; FIA cluster is clunky in urban areas ---about as much time in court house determining owners and knocking on doors getting permission as collecting dataLast I talked, Dave willing to bump to 1/6th fixed, area sampled the same (or we could stick with his single 1/10th acre design)Variance structure is different, but.Rural = cluster; urban= single; small percent combo for rural/urban or urban/rural?Combo ~20% of urban plots better than cluster on the other 80%?Combo ~2% of FIA forested plots Goal is FIA feeds urban inventory and urban feeds the state inventory a 2-way streetReport on rural, urban, or additive combination.Filling the Gap Rural/Urban StrataDual Plot Design ModelRural StratumTraditional FIA Forestland4 subplot cluster

Urban StratumSingle 1/6 acre fixed plot at subplot 1 on FIA non-forestland

Dual DesignOn FIA Forestland in Urban Stratum

= Percent of FIA plots32.8%0.7%3.6%18FIA now has 2 strata: urban and rural Rural (yellow) = traditional FIA Forestland (defined by useno polygon)Urban (blue) = urban areas defined by Census polygon (pop density)Use dual design appropriately for rural or urban estimateCombined estimate of rural/urban will not be additive to individual rural and urban estimatesFilling the Gap - Urban

19TPO mills around BaltimoreKey need is setting up markets for urban woodTPO helps with demand side; urban FIA helps with supply sideFilling the Gap - Urban

The NWOS contacts forest-land owners from across the country to ask them questions about: The forest land they own Their reasons for owning it Their uses of it Their management of it Their information needsTheir future intentions for itTheir demographics

Extend NWOS to urban areasDifferent focus; different questions20Filling the Gap Urban Road Rules Partnership ModelFIA and I-Tree Under Vibrant Cities UmbrellaGoals: Long-term Strategic Inventory and Monitoring of the Nations Urban Forests Not another pilotBuilt one Census Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) at a timeAnnualized to FIA rural forest inventory cycles within the CBSAStrategic monitoring of all urban forests within each CBSAIntensified monitoring of urban forests in the target city within each CSBAProvide annual information on the status and trends in target city forestsProvide for the broader-scale monitoring of all forests along the urban to rural gradient Place city forests into context within the broader urban to rural continuumForward Vibrant City goals DesignPopulation Census--Core Based Statistical Areas (multi county areas which build to national)Census-defined urban areas and urban clusters boundaries withinTarget-city boundary withinFIA Hexagonal Sampling FrameSampling IntensityFIA base intensity (1 plot/~6000 acres) in urban boundaryIntensify as necessary to achieve 200 total plots in the target city

21Filling the Gap Urban Road Rules Plot Design4-subplot cluster for FIA (rural) forestsSingle plot at subplot one for urban 1/6 acre fixed Dual design for FIA forest plots in urbanExploit marginal cost opportunity (FIA already visits 20% of urban plots)Maintain consistency with rural and urban designs/estimationAnnualizeMatch FIA rural forest cycleMatch FIA production/delivery goalsCollect data in 1 yearProcess/post data within 6 months of last plotPublish comprehensive report every 5 yearsDevelop data distribution toolsMet by combination of FIA and I-Tree systemsData CollectionStart by merging FIA and I-Tree UFORE field manualsTraditional outputs of both ProgramsAugment/refine in timeLearn from initial effortsOnly after initial effort firmly underway

22Filling the Gap Urban Road Rules Data CollectionStaffingBest mix (fed, partners, contracts)All must be trained All must be certified All must pass check plotsQuality Standards and AttainmentTrained and Certified crews4% - 10% of plots checked annuallyBlind, Hot, and ColdMeasurement Quality ObjectivesBasis for passing check plotQuantified and reportedEstimates with sampling errorsStatistical precision goalsFull breadth of FIA program with logical urban refinementsPlotsCharacterize vegetation and sites upon which it growsP1, P2, P2 + (ecosystem indicators)Timber Product OutputCharacterize mills, wood used, products made, and residues generatedNational Woodland Owners SurveyCharacterize owners, attitudes, behaviors, and intentions

23Filling the Gap Urban Road Rules Sample Integrity ProtectionsDo not bias the sampleAccessAncillary effortsMay not be the best platform for some R&D effortsPrivacy ProtectionsGet permission to collectDo not divulge individuals proprietary dataSpatial Data ServicesMaximize data utility while staying compliant with Integrity/Privacy protectionsAugmentation opportunities paid by partnerSpatial intensificationIncrease the number of samples (sample intensity)More precise estimates/more confidence for smaller areas of interestTemporal intensificationSpeed the number of plots installed in a year/shorten the cycle lengthReport out soonerEstablishment of rolling average and change estimation soonerAdditional Data AttributesAugment when mutually beneficial and not detrimental to base effort

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