USFS : Kevin Nimerfro, John Vissage, Mary Miller

1. CLASSIFYING FIA DATA TO USNVC MACROGROUP & GROUP: Reporting the status of the nation’s forest using the FGDC standard. USFS: Kevin Nimerfro, John Vissage, Mary Miller NatureServe: Don Faber-Langendoen, Shannon Menard With thanks to Brad Smith, who first had the vision for this project.

2. FIA’s legislative mandate and program perspective “make and keep current a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the present and prospective conditions and requirements of the renewable resources of the forest and rangelands of the United States” - 1928 McSweeney/McNary Act FIA is the only Congressionally mandated comprehensive field-based forest inventory for each of the 50 States, Puerto Rico, and Trust Territories

3. FIA uses a multi-phase integrated monitoring framework Permanent 20+ Ecosystem sites throughout U.S. Ecosystem Index Site Forest Health Indicators Permanent 8,000+ forest plots 13 mile (22 km) grid Permanent 125,000+ forest plots 3 mile (5 km) grid Phase 2 (P2) Forest Inventory Millions of 1 m – 1 km pixels Phase 1 (P1) Remote Sensing GROUND

4. The USNVC Partnership • Federal Geographic Data Committee Vegetation Subcommittee members* • U.S. Forest Service (Lead Agency) • U.S.G.S. Core Science Analytics and Synthesis • Ecological Society of America • NatureServe • U.S. Forest Service (lead agency) * Natural Resources Conservation Service * U.S. Geological Survey-BRD/NBII * U.S. National Park Service * U.S. Bureau of Land Management * U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service * National Aeronautics and Space Administration * Department of Defense * Environmental Protection Agency * NatureServe * Ecological Society of America (Vegetation Classification Panel) 4

5. Objectives of Vegetation Standard Because vegetation represents a synthetic surrogate for landscape level processes our objectives include: • Provide uniform federal statistics for vegetation in the U.S. • Encourage partners to use common system when working with federal agencies. 5

6. TO SERVE A BROADER CLIENT BASE, FIA SEEKS TO ENHANCE ITS VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION OPTIONS • Tree species dominance approach • Dominance based associations of forest tree species- SAF Forest Types (Eyre, 1980) • Vegetation-based approach, using FGDC standard • Ecological associations of tree species, in combination with physiognomy, biogeography and ecology – USNVC Macrogroup and Group (FGDC 2008)

7. Historical Context of Project 1997 FGDC publishes USNVC standard version 1. 2001-02 FIA develops a pilot key to USNVC alliance in northern Minnesota-Wisconsin 2002-05 NatureServe develops key for FIA that classifies plots to draft NVC Macrogroups, Groups and Alliances for eastern U.S. forests. Further work postponed as NVC is revised 2008 FGDC approves NVC v2, with revised hierarchy. 2008-13 NVC partners implement a formal process for defining Macrogroup and Group types. 2010-2013 FIA and NatureServe team develop a draft computerized key to Macrogroup for eastern U.S. forests. 2014 FIA and NatureServe develop new workplan: • Final key awaits formal completion of Macrogroups and Groups in 2014 • Key should be integrated into Landfire “autokey” process, which needs to classify all U.S. forests. . NatureServe W. Brad Smith, John Vissage, and Pat Miles USDA Forest Service FIA

8. Scope of Work • Report FIA P2 data by plot/condition • Tree data (mature/sapling) • Limited environmental and site disturbance data • Precise geo-coordinates • Develop relationships of USNVC types to FIA data • Qualitative comparison of FIA species and environment data to macrogroup / group descriptions (characteristic tree species and biogeography) • Develop computerized algorithm to link FIA data to USNVC macrogroup and group • QAQC • Tabular and mapping inspection of outcomes • Ordination and cluster analyses of outcomes

9. Scope of Work: Phase 1: Eastern U.S. Forests

10. Tree abundance = Relative Importance Value (~ Canopy Cover) • Relative importance value by species was calculated for each plot. • RIV= ½ (relative density + relative basal area) • Tree and sapling data were combined into one RIV value per species per plot. • Separating sapling from tree not helpful at macrogroup and group levels.

11. Flow Chart of Data Sets Xeric/Mesic Hydric Xeric/Mesic Environmentaldata Slope, Aspect, Elevation Forest Cover Type Treatment Disturbance Stand Age

12. DATA THAT THE KEY CAN USE: FIA Attributes & Tree Spp Data RUDERAL (R) PLANTED (P) EXOTIC (E) HYDRIC (FAC) SOFT/HARD (H, S) PLANTATION SUB-SECTION HYDRIC Tree species RIV Attr.

13. Examples of Key: Natural versus Plantation Forest

14. From narrative key to computer script: Plantation

15. Example of Plantation Key

16. Southern Pine Plantation

17. LOBLOLLY PINE PLANTATION HIGHLIGHTS • Plantations are a reporting indicator for USFS (2010). • Native and Exotic plantations are tracked by USNVC. • Plantation stands not distinguished from native stands by SAF Cover type

18. EXAMPLE OF NATURAL FOREST DIVISION KEY i. Strong native diagnostic spp. ii. Strong + moderate to weak native diagnostic spp. iii. Exotic and ruderal spp.

19. Forest Division to Macrogroup Eastern Cool Temperate Forest (D008) South-Central Oak – Hardwood & Pine Forest (M016) Northern Mesic Hardwood & Conifer Forest (M014) E.N.A. Semi-Natural Forest (M013)

20. DATA DRIVING THE KEY: Species, their RIV values and attributes

21. FIA Key to Eastern Forests:Status

22. FIA Key to Eastern Forests: Status • Draft Key to draft Eastern Forest Macrogroups complete; project funds ended. • Final key needs to wait for completion of final Macrogroups and Groups (TBD by Dec. 2014) • Verification and QAQC needed.

23. FIA Forest Key: Next Steps • 2014 – Completion of NVC Macrogroup and Group types by NVC partners • Completion of key and computerized algorithm for eastern U.S. forests (and QAQC). • Forest Macrogroups first, then Groups. • Implement NVC in FIA database • Western U.S. Forest FIA Key.

24. FIA Forest Key and Landfire Landfire will develop a key to all USNVC types (forest and non-forest) down to Group level. • How can Landfire benefit from FIA eastern forest Key when building its key? • How can FIA benefit from Landfire key to complete all U.S. forests?