Information Systems for the Forest Resource Analyst

The USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program collects, analyzes, and reports on the status and trends of America’s forests. The FIA program has recently developed a standardized data format and data mining tools that allow the public to extract FIA information to meet their individual needs. One of these data mining tools is the Forest Inventory Mapmaker webapplication (www.ncrs.fs.fed.us/4801/fiadb/index.htm). This tool can be used to generate both tables and maps of forest statistics for the 48 contiguous States – in many cases for multiple inventory dates. The Forest Inventory Mapmaker program utilizes a standard data format called the Forest Inventory and Analysis Database (FIADB). The FIADB format was developed to provide users with as much data as possible in a consistent manner among States. It represents the first time tree-level forest inventory has been stored in one database for the entire United States.