Statistics and Quality Assurance for the Northern Research Station Forest Inventory and Analysis Program

Abstract

The U.S. Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects sample plot data on all forest ownerships across the United States. FIA's primary objective is to determine the extent, condition, volume, growth, and use of trees on the Nation's forest land through a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the Nation's forest resources. The FIA program strives for transparency by making the methods and results of the inventory and analysis available to the public. The standard for distributing FIA data is the FIADatabase (FIADB). FIADB data for individual states can be downloaded from the FIA DataMart at https://www.fia.fs.fed.us/tools-data/ as Microsoft Access© databases, which can be used to generate estimates of forest area, number of trees, volume, biomass, growth, removals, and mortality. This report complements the Northern Research Station's FIA 5-year state reports beginning with the 2014 inventory and includes detailed information on forest inventory methods, important resource statistics, quality of estimates, and key references.