By Tom Kelly
Editor and Publisher

• With Piney Woods Journal Staff Reporting

Concerns over accuracy of Louisiana data for the national Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) has led the U.S. Forest Service to restart the Louisiana portion of the inventory, mandated in a 1928 federal law to maintain continuous knowledge of conditions of the nation's forestlands and timber supply.

According to information available to The Piney Woods Journal, Forest Service personnel will supervise the re-inventory with an assistant from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF). In the order for re-inventory issued in May, 2007, from the Southern Research Station at Knoxville, Tennessee, it was provided that personnel from the LDAF "may become involved with data collection, under SRS control and training." If the Louisiana personnel can demonstrate the ability to collect quality information, their responsibility may be increased; otherwise, it will remain under SRS control, according to the May order.

Goal for completion of the re-inventory in Louisiana was set at March or April, 2008. Overall, Louisiana's original five-year inventory had a rejection rate of more than one-fourth of the forest samples. Each sample represents roughly 6,000 acres, thus errors have serious implications for validity of the inventory and its use for resource planning and policy, according to sources familiar with the situation.

The U.S. Forest Service, a virtually autonomous unit within the U.S.Department of Agriculture, oversees the national forest inventory, essentially "farming out" actual on-the-ground surveys to state agencies, under Forest Service rules and supervision. Louisiana's inventory was contracted to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, through its Office of Forestry for the current inventory.

Initially, the national inventory was completed on a rolling ten-year cycle. The 1998 U.S. Farm Bill required major changes in the inventory, including provision for data on forest health, transition of land use, and other information consistent across the entire country. At the beginning of the current inventory in 2000, the inventory changed to a rolling five-year cycle, with approximately 20 percent of forests to be evalated each year. The national budget for the Forest Service inventory was increased dramatically, and States generally added to funding for the inventory in their forests.

During much of the inventory period, in late 2005 and through 2006, the Louisiana forest industry was deeply involved in salvage and recovery operations for timber damaged in the twin hurricanes, Katrina and Rita, which affected coastal and inland forests from Texas to Alabama. The Louisiana Office of Forestry, an agency within LDAF, together with the Louisiana Forestry Association, was coordinated the salvage plans, along with industry personnel, private landowners and loggers. Residual effects of hurricane damage are still being tallied, and various assistance programs for landowners are being implemented.

But problems with the federally-mandated survey in Louisiana emerged prior to the hurricanes, which claimed primary attention of the Office of Forestry for many months. As early as 2002, the Forest Service Southern Research Station office in Starkville, Mississippi, ordered decertification of an LDAF field employee for failure to meet the minimum standard of accuracy in forest plot measurement in the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA). The Starkville office of USDA Forest Service supervises Inventory Assessment in Louisiana and Mississippi.

In 2003, instances were cited of LDAF trainees apparently cheating on qualification tests for tree crown measurements by comparing notes and "doctoring" their results. One complaint cited a supervisor's laxness in returning parish survey materials to the Starkville office. Another complaint states ". . . several crew members cursed (their supervisor) when told they would have to repeat crown training (on which they were observed comparing notes)" and "crew members have intentionally misrepresented production, made up data in the field, and are continuing to misrepresent time spent working."

Problems with the detailed field surveys have continued, according to a report as late as 2005, with the result that "the integrity of the Inventory and of all the data is at risk; the morale of the Federal crews and quality assessment and quality control is at risk; and control of tbe other states data is at risk . . ."

The forest inventory is used within the industry for long-range resource planning, prediction of timber availability for manufature, habitat protection, and other planning.

The Forest Inventory and Analysis Program within the U.S. Forest Service has been in continuous operation since 1930 with a mission to "...make and keep current a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the present and prospective conditions of and requirements for the renewable resources of the forest and rangelands of the U.S."

The FIA program collects, analyzes, and reports information on the status and trends of America's forests. This information can be used in many ways, such as evaluating wildlife habitat conditions, assessing the sustainability of management practices, and supporting decision-making activities.

In the past, permanent plots were established and revisited on an approximately 10-year schedule. Each sample point represents roughly 6000 acres so errors have serious implications as to the validity of the inventory and its use for resource planning and policy. Louisiana's last periodic survey of this type was in 1991. In the 1998 Farm Bill, the FIA was required to make dramatic changes in this system. Annual inventories across all ownerships in every State were ordered to be done every five years, with approximately 20 percent done each year. The 5-year reports are to include assessment of forest health.

State partners were enlisted through cooperative agreements, primarily through the State Foresters and their respective organizations. Annual budgets for the years from 1999 through 2006 increased from $37.5-million to $72.5-million for the south-wide survey.

Two phases of inventory were implemented; phase 2 was the traditional ground plots that focused on forest and tree information, primarily as it relates to timber. Phase 3 was a subset of phase 2 plots relating to forest health with data generally collected in June, July, and August. The total program included quality assurance measures to provide documentation of methods, training for data collectors, checks of data quality, peer review of analyses, and continuous feedback.

Field checks are of three types. First, the inspector is present on the plot with the trainee. Secondly, inspection is done independent of the data collector, but with crew data for the plot in-hand. Thirdly, remeasurement of a plot is done without access to the crew data.

The survey of Louisiana's forest resources under the new system began in 2000 using Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) personnel. All cruisers were certified through training sessions on the requirements and procedures for locating and remeasuring survey plots. To maintain the required quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) of the inventory program, QA crews periodically visit a sampling of plots behind each crew. Decertification of cruisers in Louisiana based on low check scores was first encountered in 2002. The serious nature of training, work scheduling, and timely transmission of data was apparently failing to be recognized. Production lagged. The number of plots coded as "denied access" or "hazardous", and thus not recovered and remeasured, was particularly high and exceeded that of any previous survey, according to information available to The Piney Woods Journal.

By the end of 2004, with the integrity of the data in question, the morale of the federal component of the program at risk, and precedents being set for other States, the Forest Service began discussing ending the cooperative agreement with Louisiana and reverting to Federal crews. Federal check crews were dispatched to locate the denied access plots and evaluate the situation and accuracy of coding. Plots were successfully located and the required data was taken. More de-certification of cruisers followed and their plot information was no longer accepted by the Forest Service. Plot checks by the QA crews were intensified.

The cooperative arrangement between the Forest Service and the LDAF continued for another year but in November, 2005, a joint meeting between the Forest Service and LDAF was scheduled.

Because of a lack of confidence within the Forest Service based on continuing low check scores, it was agreed that a certified federal cruiser would work with an LDAF assistant to locate and inventory lost plots. Beginning in December, 2005 and into 2006, federal supervision was continued.

In 2007, a seven-year re-inventory of the plots was established, with a target date for completion of the Louisiana inventory set for March or April, 2008.

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