Annual Business Reports for the National FIA Program
The FIA Annual Business Reports evaluate the performance of the FIA program in an effort to ensure accountability and transparency to FIA partners, supporters and customers. Modeled on a corporate business report, they contain basic business information about the FIA program including accomplishments, performance measures, plans for the next fiscal year, agreements with other parties, and basic financial and staffing data. These reports are prepared by the National Office staff of the FIA Program, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, DC.
FIA Strategic Plan
FIA has been operating under the guidance of a Strategic Plan since 1999. In 2007, the original 1999 Strategic Plan for Forest Inventory and Analysis was updated. The revised Plan described the funding, staffing, and programmatic changes needed to achieve the level of service described by the Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-307, 92 Stat. 353) and potential new directions. The Agricultural Act of 2014 (Public Law 113-79) or 2014 Farm Bill required further updating of the FIA Strategic Plan with submission to the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate not later than 180 days after enactment of the Act.
The FIA Strategic Plan delivered to Congress in 2015 remains in effect today, with the 2018 Farm Bill providing additional emphasis on priorities.
The Biometrics Working Group (BWG), administered by the National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI), organizes meetings where knowledgeable forest biometricians from academia, government forestry agencies and industry discuss technical issues. Meeting topics are often related to the USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program; however, technical issues on carbon monitoring or sustainable forestry are also of interest.
Notes from recent BWG meetings can be found on the NCASI site.
In addition to the annual meeting, the National User Group has begun to host Focus Group meetings in order to work with stakeholders and users to improve the FIA Program and in response to Farm Bill priorities.
The Blue Ribbon Panels on Forest Inventory and Analysis are groups of high-level leaders from the full forestry community - federal and state agencies, industry, academia, environmental organizations, and other user groups - who provide periodic overviews of the FIA program. The Panels have met several times since 1992, and are one mechanism used to guide the direction of FIA program evolution.
Commitment Between USDA Forest Service and the National Association of State Foresters
An agreement between (former) Chief Thomas Tidwell of the USDA Forest Service and the President of the National Association of State Foresters, Bill Crapser, identifies a commitment by both parties to collaborate in the implementation of the FIA program.
