WASHINGTON, DC—Forest Service scientists track the status of our lands through the Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment Research program. Program staffers collect, investigate and share data on forests and rangelands, including their health, growth, extent and ownership status. Additionally, staff members report on the impacts of changes—both to the landscape and climate—on carbon stores, wildlife, forest products, urban greenspaces, water and recreation.

Scientists with the Forest Inventory and Analysis program—the cornerstone of IMAR—maintain over 325,000 research plots across the nation and on U.S. islands. FIA’s extensive research network makes it the largest steward of forest inventory data in the world. FIA researchers incorporate sophisticated aerial imagery, or remote sensing data, into their measurements from ground plots. This provides broad and consistent information on the health of forests and rangelands. In addition, researchers often search for opportunities to add FIA plots to the network, especially in long-term research sites like experimental forests and ranges.

Members of Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment Research routinely share their data in publications like the Resource Planning Act Assessment and the National Report on Sustainable Forests. Published periodically since the 1970s, the Resource Planning Act Assessment relays information about the current state of natural resources and how population growth, climate change and the economy might affect it over the next 50 years.

Authors of the National Report on Sustainable Forests use an internationally agreed upon set of factors to assess whether U.S. forests are being sustainably managed.

IMAR staff members continuously evolve the program to meet pressing natural resource issues, embrace updated technologies and adapt to changing budgets and user needs.