Modeling and Software

Computer models can provide resource professionals with estimates on how forest conditions might change.

Forest Service Software

The Forest Service has developed a variety of applications to assist with forest management analysis and planning, fuels and fire prediction, ecosystem analysis and planning, and visualizing resource data and projections.

• Data and Information Systems - a page summarizing various data and information systems developed and supported by the Forest Service.
• Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) - the home page of the Forest Service unit responsible to develop, analyze, and maintain forest resource information.
• USDA Forest Service Research and Development - the home page of Forest Service research and development. This site includes links to regional research stations, publications, databases, and software.
• Natural Resource Inventory System (NRIS) - The Forest Service Natural Resource Information System (NRIS) is designed to support field-level users on National Forests with a common set of basic data and data standards, in a common computing environment.
• Forest Management Service Center - provides technical support for forest growth, measurement, and small diameter utilization for the National Forests. This includes information, technical support, and software.
• Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team (FHTET) - the home page of a detached unit of the Forest Service's Washington Office of Forest Health Protection Staff. FHTET provides forest health technology services to field units and State and private partners.
• Forest Ecosystem Processes - website for a group at the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Moscow, Idaho, studying the effects of management and environment on ecosystem processes. Develops new knowledge and decision support tools.
• Planning Analysis Group (PAG) and Inventory and Monitoring Institute (IMI) - a National Service Center dedicated to providing assistance for the stewardship of forests and grasslands.
• Current Vegetation Survey - a page containing links to Region 6's Current Forest Vegetation Survey (CVS) databases and data processing software.
• Financial Evaluation Software from the Economics of Joint Production Team - a page containing links to the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland Forestry Sciences Laboratory (Portland, Oregon) cost and financial evaluation software.
• Using Financial Analysis to Assess the Feasibility of Implementation of Ecosystem Management - a software package (FEEMA) was developed to provide financial evaluations of Ecosystem Management activities. This software is intended to help forest managers design financially viable treatments in densely overstocked small-diameter stands. Project Profile: Colville Rocky II Timber Sale

Other Agencies and Governmental Organizations

Other federal agency, state, and local government organizations are involved in the development of resource management analysis applications.

• The Joint Fire Science Program - a joint program of the United States Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture to provide a scientific basis and rationale for implementing fuels management activities, focusing on activities that will lead to development and application of tools for managers.
• Landscape Management Project - cooperative project between the University of Washington College of Forest Resources Silviculture Laboratory, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and the USDA Forest Service. Its purpose is to develop the concepts and tools needed to help forests provide the wide range of values people want -- including commodities, wildlife habitat, fire safety, employment, and carbon sequestration.
• Rural Technology Initiative (RTI) - developed by University of Washington (UW) and Washington State University (WSU) Cooperative Extension, to accelerate the implementation of new technologies in rural forest resource-based communities.