RMRS - Natural Resource Assessment, Ecology, and Management Science

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Products & Publications

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Products

Publications

Ecoregions

Quantitative Ecological Research

Renewable Resource Management Science Research

Integration and Interpretation of Indicators of Sustainable Forest and Rangeland Management

Research on Sustaining Social, Biological, and Physical Components of the Colorado Front Range

Quantitative Methods for Analyzing Forest and Rangeland Management

Developing, testing and Integrating Indicators of Sustainability for Forests, Rangelands and Nonrenewable Resources

Renewable and Nonrenewable Resource Assessment Applications at Multiple Scales

Research, Development and Technology Transfer of Improved Meso-Scale Fire Weather Forecasting Techniques for Land Management with Emphasis on fire Planning and Operations

Derivation, Testing and Validation, and Implementation of Statistically Valid Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring Techniques at Various Geographic and Organizational Scales

Colorado Front Range - Improve our Understanding of the Ecological Condition and Functioning of Colorado Front Range Ecosystems, and the Social and Organizational Values and Issues Important for Integrated Ecosystem, Social, and Economic Sustainability in the Greater Front Range Area

Raymond L. Czaplewski and Paul L. Patterson, 2001, Contained in: Reams, Gregory A.; McRoberts, Ronald E.; Van Deusen, Paul C., eds. 2001. Proceedings of the second annual Forest Inventory and Analysis symposium; 2000 October 17-18; Salt Lake City, UT. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-47. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 32-42
Description: We specify accuracy standards for remotely sensed classifications used by FIA to stratify landscapes into two categories: forest and nonforest. Accuracy must be highest when forest area approaches 100 percent of the landscape. If forest area is rare in a landscape, then accuracy in the nonforest stratum must be very high, even at the expense of accuracy in the forest stratum. Accuracy in both strata must be at least 90 percent to achieve appreciable gains in efficiency. We recommend that new remotely sensed data be used to re-stratify landscapes whenever the area in forestland decreases by five percent or more since the previous stratification. Efficiency can increase up to 15 percent with formation of an "indeterminate" stratum, which contains elements that are most likely to be misclassified.

Raymond L. Czaplewski, 2001, In: Reams, Gregory A.; McRoberts, Ronald E.; Van Deusen, Paul C., eds. 2001. Proceedings of the second annual Forest Inventory and Analysis symposium; 2000 October 17-18; Salt Lake City, UT. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-47. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 63-65
Description: Stratification for both variance reduction and areal control proliferates the number of strata, which causes small sample sizes in many strata. This might compromise statistical efficiency. Generalized least squares can, in principle, replace stratification for areal control.

Joe P. McClure; Jana Anderson; Hans T. Schreuder; USDA Forest Service, Southeastern Forest Experiment Station, Research Paper SE-264.
Description: Regression equations for volume by region and site class were examined for lobiolly pine. The regressions for the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions had significantly different slopes. The results shared important practical differences in percentage of confidence intervals containing the true total volume and in percentage of estimates within a specific proportion of the true total In a simulation study.

Raymond L. Czaplewski, Ph.D. and Rudi Drigo.
Description: This report describes how the forest resources and sustainability if North America could be estimated using remote sensing and sampling methods pioneered by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the Forest Resources Assessment. FAO Document Number 385793

Timothy A. Max; Hans T. Schreuder; John W. Hazard; Daniel D. Oswald; John Teply; Jim Alegria; Res. Pap. PNW-RP-493. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station. 22 p.
Description: A grid sampling strategy was adopted for broad-scale inventory and monitoring of forest and range vegetation on National Forest System lands in the Pacific North-west Region, USDA Forest Service. This paper documents the technical details of the adopted design and discusses alternative sampling designs that were considered. A less technical description of the selected design will be given elsewhere. The grid consists of a regular, square spacing with 5.47 kilometers (3.4 mi) between grid points. The primary sampling unit (PSU), established at each grid sampling point, consists of a circular, 1-hectare (2.47-acre) plot. The PSU is subsampled with a set of different-sized fixed-area subplots, as well as line transects, to assess all components of vegetation. The design is flexible and can be used with many types of maps. The theory of point and change estimation is described, as well as estimates of variation that assess the statistical precision of estimates.

Raymond L. Czaplewski
Description: Remote sensing can improve timeliness and efficiency of national systems for forest statistics. Landsat satellite data can frequently detect major changes in land cover. A sample of high-resolution imagery can detect moderate changes and discriminate among detailed categories of forest cover and land use. A sample of field data measures the slow and more subtle changes and calibrates remotely sensed data. Implementation is a major undertaking that requires unprecedented partnerships among federal programs and stakeholders.

See the HTML execerpt of RMRS-4804's section of the report or the PDF (338 KB) of the section.
The Rocky Mountain Research Station develops scientific information and technology to improve management, protection, and use of the forests and rangelands. Research is designed to meet the needs of Forest managers, Federal and State Agencies, public and private organizations, academic institutions, industry, and individuals. Studies accelerate solutions to problems involving ecosystems, range, forests, water, recreation, fire, resource inventory, land reclamation, community sustainability, forest engineering technology, multiple use economics, wildlife and fish habitat, and forest insects and diseases. This report reflects the 2001 accomplishments of the Rocky Mountain Research Station in these areas of research.

OUT OF PRINT PUBLICATIONS

Robert C. Aldrich, 1979, General Technical Report RM-71, 56pp.

Description: A review of remote sensing technologies, applications, and costs for wildland resource management, including collection, interpretation, and processing of data for classification and mapping, interpretive information for specific applications, measurement of resource parameters, and observations and counts of occurrences. Although many sections are dated, Dr. Aldrich's review of aerial photography remains very valid today.

H. Gyde Lund, 1986, General Technical Report WO-49. 64pp.

Description: Covers general principles for achieving integration, types of integration multi-location, multilevel, multi-resource and temporal) and integrated inventory planning, implementation, and maintenance.

H. Gyde Lund and Charles E. Thomas, 1989, General Technical Report WO-54. 96pp.

Description: Covers designs for the inventory of stands and forests in detail and with worked-out examples. For stands, random sampling, line transects, ricochet pot, systematic sampling, single plot, cluster, subjective sampling and complete enumeration are discussed. For forests inventory, the main categories are subjective sampling, inventories without prior stand mapping, inventories with prior stand mapping, inventories using existing stand information, and complete enumeration.Ý Systematic sampling, stratified sampling, equal probability sampling, probability sampling proportional to size, etc. are presented.

H. Gyde Lund and Charles E. Thomas (eds.) Robert G. Bailey, James E. Brickell, William H. Clerke, Robert S. Cunningham, Raymond L. Czaplewski, Susan J. DeLost, Fran Evanisko, Harlod R. Greenlee, Paul Howard ,Randy Moore, Jerry F .Ragus, Brian M. Spears, and Wayne Valentine, 1995, General Technical Report WO-62. 96pp.

Description: This primer provides resource inventory specialists with information on how to evaluate existing natural resource information and how to use it in preparing new resource inventories. Subjects covered include determining information needs, finding existing information, determining its utility, evaluating it suitability and quality, and incorporating it into new geographic information systems.