Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2018

Abstract

The annual national report of the Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) program of the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, presents forest health status and trends from a national or multi-State regional perspective using a variety of sources, introduces new techniques for analyzing forest health data, and summarizes results of recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects funded through the FHM national program. In this 18th edition in a series of annual reports, national survey data are used to identify geographic patterns of insect and disease activity. Satellite data are employed to detect geographic patterns of forest fre occurrence. Recent drought and moisture surplus conditions are compared across the conterminous United States. Data collected by the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program are employed to detect regional differences in tree mortality. Forest Inventory and Analysis data also were used to identify forest types in the Eastern United States with relatively high or low rates of invasion by invasive plants. Methods are explored for more accurately reporting insect and disease damage across multiple regions and nationally using the new Digital Mobile Sketch Mapper (DMSM) platform. National Land Cover Database (NLCD) tree canopy cover data are applied to adjust Forest Health Protection (FHP) Insect and Disease Survey data to better represent acres of forest damage. Three recently completed Evaluation Monitoring projects are s

Titles contained within Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2018

• Chapter 1- Introduction
• Chapter 2 - Large-scale patterns of insect and disease activity in the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii from the national Insect and Disease Survey, 2017
• Chapter 3 - Large-scale patterns of forest fire occurrence across the 50 United States and the Caribbean territories, 2017
• Chapter 4 - Drought and moisture surplus patterns in the conterminous United States: 2017, 2015-2017, and 2013-2017
• Chapter 6 - The invasibility and invadedness of Eastern U.S. forest types
• Chapter 7 - Using tree canopy cover data to help estimate acres of damage
• Chapter 8 - Investigating causes of bishop pine decline on California's north coast
• Chapter 9 - Monitoring myoporumthrips, Klambothrips myopori (Thysanoptera: Phlaeothripidae), in Hawaii (Project WC-EM-B-10-02)
• Chapter 10 - Monitoring the impact of climate change on the frequency and severity of fires and distribution of Great Basin bristlecone pine sky island ecosystems

Keywords

Change detection, drought, fire, forest health, forest insects and disease, invasive species, tree canopy, tree mortality.

Citation

Potter, Kevin M.; Conkling, Barbara L., eds. 2019. Forest health monitoring: national status, trends, and analysis 2018. Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-239. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. 168 p.