Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, St. Paul, MN, USA.
Environ Monit Assess. 2011 Jun;177(1-4):419-36. doi: 10.1007/s10661-010-1644-8. Epub 2010 Aug 17.
For two decades, the US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, has been charged with implementing a nationwide field-based forest health monitoring effort. Given its extensive nature, the monitoring program has been gradually implemented across forest health indicators and inventoried states. Currently, the Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program has initiated forest health inventories in all states, and most forest health indicators are being documented in terms of sampling protocols, data management structures, and estimation procedures. Field data from most sample years and indicators are available on-line with numerous analytical examples published both internally and externally. This investment in national forest health monitoring has begun to yield dividends by allowing evaluation of state/regional forest health issues (e.g., pollution and invasive pests) and contributing substantially to national/international reporting efforts (e.g., National Report on Sustainability and US EPA Annual Greenhouse Gas Estimates). With the emerging threat of climate change, full national implementation and remeasurement of a forest health inventory should allow for more robust assessment of forest communities that are undergoing unprecedented changes, aiding future land management and policy decisions.
二十年来，美国农业部林务局一直负责开展全国范围的实地森林健康监测工作。鉴于监测工作的广泛性质，该监测计划已逐步在森林健康指标和清查各州得到实施。目前，林务局的森林清查和分析计划已经在所有各州启动了森林健康清查，并且正在根据抽样方案、数据管理结构和估计程序记录大多数森林健康指标的数据。大多数样本年份和指标的现场数据都可以在线获得，并且内部和外部都发布了许多分析示例。通过评估州/地区森林健康问题（例如污染和入侵害虫）以及为国家/国际报告工作做出重大贡献（例如，可持续性国家报告和美国环保署年度温室气体估算），对国家森林健康监测的这项投资开始取得成效。随着气候变化这一新兴威胁的出现，全面实施和重新测量森林健康清查应该能够更好地评估正在经历前所未有的变化的森林群落，为未来的土地管理和政策决策提供帮助。
