Pilot inventory of FIA plots traditionally called "nonforest"
2003
Riemann, Rachel
Forest-inventory data were collected on plots defined as "nonforest" by the USDA Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) unit. Nonforest plots may have trees on them, but they do not fit FIA's definition of forest because the area covered by trees is too small, too sparsely populated by trees, too narrow (e.g., trees between fields or in the middle of a divided highway), or has a disturbed understory (e.g., mowing or grazing) such that natural regeneration of trees probably does not occur. Recent inventories and associated photointerpretation work showed that 30 to 50 percent of these nonforest plots contained trees and were located in urban, suburban, industrial, and rural areas. Data were collected for trees on traditionally nonforest plots in a five-county area in Maryland that was 30 percent forested in 1999. Nonforest plots added at least 43 percent to the total-tree basal area measured on forest plots. Species composition, tree size, damage, and number of exotics differed between forest and nonforest plots. Costs were about one-third of those on a regular FIA plot. Field collection methods, including field preparation, plot design, and variables collected are outlined, and recommendations for future inventories of similar areas are presented.
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