Forest Health Monitoring Plot Data from USDA Field Crews

25,000 records are collected annually by USDA Forest Service and state forestry crews to characterize forest conditions and major stresses. Each record contains 76 fields of data from one-acre plots with four sub-plots. This national monitoring program has operated since 1990.

Use Cases

• Analyze forest stress factors using the 76 recorded field measurements per plot.
• Model temporal changes in forest conditions using annual records collected since 1990.
• Assess regional forest health by aggregating plot data from specific geographic locations.
• Quantify changes in forest conditions over time using the repeated annual measurements.

Strengths

• Annual collection provides a consistent time series starting in 1990.
• Data is collected by trained forest professionals using real-time editing equipment.
• Each record contains 76 detailed fields for comprehensive plot characterization.

Limitations

• Data has not been updated since 1992, making it temporally stale for current analysis.
• Plot locations on private land create legal restrictions and potential geographic bias.
• The dataset size of 5 MB per year may indicate limited detail per record.

Provenance

Source

USDA Forest Service and participating state forestry sites.

Collection Method

Field crews collected data in forest situations using portable data recorders. Sample location was one acre with four 1/24-acre sub-plots.

Time Range

Annually since 1990.

Freshness

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Geography

National coverage across the United States, including private lands.