- National Forest Resource Inventory and Monitoring System

Abstract

The history of forest inventories goes back to the end of the Middle Ages when intensive use of forest resources first led to wood shortages, which, in turn, forced users to begin forest planning, particularly near towns and mines (Loetsch and Haller 1973; Tomppo et al. 2010a,b). The first information collected for these purposes was assessments of forest area and crude estimates of growing stock.