PA C I F I C
Quarterly
N O R T H W E S T
Forest Inventory
& Analysis
Issue 5 / Winter 2005
Inside:
A Message From
the Program Manager................ 1
FIA’s Ownership Survey...........2
Studying Oregon
Land Use Change.......................3
Employee Profiles.......................3
Recent PNW-FIA
Publications..................................4
Forest Inventory and Analysis
Pacific Northwest Research Station
P.O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fia/
A Message From the Program Manager
It’s a cold sunny day here in Portland as we head into the winter phase of
forest inventory. I’ve learned after 8 years that there really is no “downtime” for
the inventory—just a changing of emphasis from intensive field work to intensive office work and preparation for the next field season. We completed the
majority of the field season work on schedule this year (before Thanksgiving)
and already have most of the data cleaned through the edit process. We are still
waiting on some of the contractors who got a late start because of changing Forest Service processes. We are very optimistic that we will have the data released
this year within the 6-month timeframe from the end of data collection.
Along with streamlining the processing and compilation of the national
core inventory data, we have also been working on procedures to compile the
understory vegetation, down woody material, and insect and disease information. We are looking forward to using this valuable information to produce
more analyses.
We have several key recent publications including an update on our western
juniper resource in Oregon; juniper is currently found on over 6 million acres
(up from about 1.5 million acres in the 1930s), and all indications are that the
area of juniper forest will keep expanding. Also available is a publication highlighting the results from the last periodic Pacific Forest Inventory and Analysis
(PNW-FIA) inventory in south-central Alaska; it describes the forest resource
across the 18.5 million acres of south-central Alaska, including the Chugach
National Forest and Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
On the national scene, the FIA received an increase in funding, but overall
administrative costs within the Forest Service also increased, so we were
fortunate to stay close to last year’s funding level. The new FIA Strategic Plan
was signed, with the highest priority being to implement the base FIA Program
in all 50 states, so over the next several months, the FIA Management team will
be working on options to accomplish this with limited resources.
— Sue Willits, PNW-FIA Program Manager
P A C I F I C
N O R T H W E S T
Forest Inventory & Analysis Quarterly
Issue 5 / Winter 2005
2
FIA’s Ownership Survey
Thomas Jefferson believed that land ownership promotes citizen
responsibility and social harmony. Today, private forest-land owners make important decisions about amounts and kinds of goods
and services that come off their land; how to protect valuable
resources such as trees, water, and wildlife; and the availability of
forest recreation opportunities. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand
and appreciate the opportunities, intentions, and limitations faced
by private forest owners. For this reason, the National Woodland
Owner Survey (NWOS) was implemented by the USDA Forest Service FIA Program to collect information on forest-land ownership
in the United States. Begun in 2001, the NWOS fulfills an important
component of the Forest Service’s mandate to carry out a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the Nation’s forests.
The NWOS, one of the three components to FIA (besides the field
inventory and the timber product output studies), represents the
social counterpart to the program’s biologic inventory. Every year,
a randomly selected set (10 to 20 percent) of the full sample of private forest-land owners in the United States are asked to participate
in the survey.
The survey asks for information on (1) forest land characteristics,
(2) owner’s objectives, (3) forest use, (4) forest management, (5)
sources of information owners use, (6) forest health concerns and
regulatory issues, (7) future intentions, and (8) demographics. The
information is intended to help policymakers and resource managers better understand the social context of forests and formulate
more informed opinions and decisions.
The results from the first 2 years of the survey, 2002 and 2003,
have already pointed out some changes and challenges that lie
ahead for the forestry community. According to Brett Butler, a
research forester with the FIA Program and national leader of the
NWOS, one of the fundamental challenges concerns the increasing
age of family forest owners.
“Owners 65 years or older control 44 percent of family forest
land; 20 percent is owned by people 75 years or older,” he says.
“The average age of these forestland owners portends a large increase in the transfer of forestland in the near future.” The transfer
of lands could have a minimal impact . . . or it could lead to dramatic change. It will depend on the personal goals of the new owner.
Survey results also indicate that the reasons for owning forest
land may be shifting. Butler explains, “Although most forestland
owners say they own forestland for its aesthetic value or for the
privacy it affords them, a significant number said they owned forest land as an investment—the opportunity to sell the land in the
future—not for timber production.”
In revealing key information about family forest ownership, the
NWOS also points out how little is actually known about the people
whose decisions shape such a large portion of the country’s forests.
But as the NWOS continues, this knowledge will improve, and will
hopefully continue to provide meaningful assistance to the stewardship of forest resources.
(continued on page 3)
Facts About Family Forest Owners of
California, Oregon, and Washington
(Source: 2004 National Woodland Owner
Survey. Unpublished data. On file with: B.J.
Butler, Northern Research Station)
Acres and Percentage of Forest Land
Held by Family Owners
Acres Percentage of total
State
(thousands)
forest land in state
California
Oregon
Washington
Total
12,122
4,461
3,303
19,886
30
15
15
22
Source: Smith et al. 2004. Forest resources of the United
States, 2002. Gen Tech. Rep. NC-241. St. Paul, MN: U.S.
Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, North Central
Research Station 137 p.
Size Distribution of Landholdings
Size Acres
Owners
(acres)
(thousands)
(thousands)
1–9
10–49
50–99
100–499
500–999
1,000–4,999
5,000+
Total
1,616
4,271
2,113
4,952
1,900
3,643
1,391
19,886
458
221
31
27
3
2
<1
722
Percentage of landowners over 75 years of age: 33
Education (at least some college): 40.6% of family
forest owners who own 23% of the family forest
land.
Written management plans: 5.4% of family forest
owners who own 14.5% of family forest land.
Have sought management advice in the past
5 years: 28.9% of family forest owners who own
36.5% of family forest land.
Top six landowner concerns:
1. Endangered species
2. Property taxes
3. Family legacy
4. Lawsuits
5. Harvesting regulations
6. Land development
P A C I F I C
N O R T H W E S T
Forest Inventory & Analysis Quarterly
Studying Oregon Land Use Change
One of the top 10 concerns Oregonians have about forestry issues is
the thought of losing forest land
to development. And, as rural
areas in the Pacific Northwest
continue to attract newcomers,
this threat to the ecological and
socioeconomic values of forests
grows. Because of this, the need
to understand land use changes
becomes more and more important. The Oregon Department
of Forestry (ODF), desiring to
stay on top of these trends, approached the PNW-FIA Program
with questions about how fast
forest lands are being developed,
and whether population growth
is having any impact on private
forests and forestry.
To answer these questions,
Gary Lettman (ODF economist)
and his staff, in partnership
with Dave Azuma (PNW-FIA
research forester) and Erica
Hanson (PNW-FIA forestry
technician), have been working on an analysis of land
use change in Oregon over
the past 5 years. They use
aerial photos and ground data
from privately owned land
to characterize the status of
the forest and gain detailed
information about land use at
different stages by using data from
1973, 1982, 1994, and 2000. During
this time, the population in Oregon
increased by more than 50 percent.
As of 2000–2001, the majority of
Oregon’s nonfederal land is still
in forest, range, or agricultural
use: 89 percent in western Oregon,
and 97 percent in eastern Oregon.
However, between the early 1970s
and now, considerable shifts in
dominant land uses toward more
developed categories have occurred. In western Oregon, over 80
percent of the changes in land use
were from agriculture or wildland
forests to low-density residential or
urban-areas. Interestingly, despite
increasing population and personal
income, the rate of conversion of
forest and farm lands declined
(continued on page 4)
(continued from page 2)
For more information see:
The NWOS Web site at http://www.fs.fed.us/woodlandowners/
Butler, B.J.; Leatherberry, E.C. 2004. America’s family forest owners.
Journal of Forestry. 102(7): 4–9.
Butler, B.J.; Leatherberry, E.C.; Williams, M.S. 2005. Design, implementation, and analysis methods for the National Woodland Owner Survey. Gen. Tech. Rep. GTR-NE-336. Newton Square, PA: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 43 p.
Issue 5 / Winter 2005
Employee Profiles
In each issue of our newsletter we profile
some of our employees and their roles and
responsibilities in the PNW-FIA program.
Dave Azuma, research
forester, Portland Forestry Science Laboratory
(e-mail: dazuma@fs.fed.us,
phone (503) 808-2047)
Dave, a 30-year Forest
Service employee, has
been with the Pacific
Northwest Research Station 10 years. After
receiving a bachelor’s degrees in math and
forestry, Dave received a master’s degree
in statistics from California State University
at Hayward.
He is currently a research forester on the
PNW-FIA Envrionmental Analysis and Research team, where he uses FIA data for
analysis of spruce budworm effects, fuel loading and fire behavior and effects, and land use
change and its impacts on forest resources.
Since the inception of the ODFs land use
change study in 1998, Dave has worked on
quality control of the data collection, analyzing data, and presenting results. In his free
time, Dave plays golf, gardens, cooks, and
follows a passion for racquetball, as both a
player (having earned 14 National Doubles
titles) and a coach.
Erica Hanson, forestry technician, Portland Forestry Science Laboratory (e-mail
ehanson@fs.fed.us, phone (503) 808-2086)
Erica began working for
the Forest Service in 1980
on the Detroit, Oregon,
fire crew, and later joined
the Portland Forestry Sciences Lab in 1989 as a
member of the western
Washington field crew.
She is currently a member of the PNW-FIA
Reporting team. The main focus of her work
involves dealing with historical inventory
data, scanning plot cards, documentation, and
photointerpretation. She has been closely
involved in the ODFs land use study, which
relied heavily on comparing information in
aerial photographs. For the study covering
eastern Oregon, Erica was the lead aerial
photointerpreter. She is currently helping
the project through training, quality assurance, and coordination of photos and data
between ODF and PNW-FIA. When not at
work, Erica enjoys reading and gardening.
3
Jovan, S.; McCune, B. 2005. Air-quality
bioindication in the greater central valley
of California, with epiphytic macrolichen
communities. Ecological Applications.
15(5): 1712–1726.
Laurent, E.J.; Shi, H.; Gatziolis, D.; LeBouton, J.P.; Walters, M.B.; Liu, J. 2005. Using
the spatial and spectral precision of satellite imagery to predict wildlife occurrence
patterns. Remote Sensing of Environment.
97: 249–262.
News for Pacific Northwest Research Station,
Forest Inventory and Analysis Clients, Employees,
and Retirees
Please visit our Web page at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fia/
Published by the
Pacific Northwest Research Station
P.O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
Sally Campbell, Managing Editor
scampbell01@fs.fed.us
(503) 808-2034
Pilar Reichlein, Layout
preichlein@fs.fed.us
(503) 808-2114
Rachel White, Writer
rachelwhite@fs.fed.us
(503) 808-2082
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits
discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family
status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)
Persons with disabilities who require alternative means
for communication of program information (Braille, large
print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET
Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA,
Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten
Building, 14th and Independence Avenue, SW, Washington,
DC 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Campbell, S.; van Hees, W.W.S.; Mead, B.
2005. South-central Alaska forests: inventory highlights. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNWGTR-652. Portland, OR: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific
Northwest Research Station. 28 p.
Forest
Service
Quarterly
Because land use planning and
development have such large
environmental and economic
consequences, it’s important to
continue to track their effects.
Population growth projections
suggest that the impacts of rural
development could be greater in
the future.
For more information see:
Azuma, D.L.; Birch, K.R.;
Herstrom, A.A.; Kline, J.D.; Lettman, G. 2002. Forests, farms, and
people: land use change on nonfederal land in western Oregon,
1973–2000. Salem, OR: Oregon
Department of Forestry. 48 p.
Azuma, D.L.; Hiserote, B.A.; Dunham,
P.A. 2005. The western juniper resource of
eastern Oregon, 1999. Resour. Bull. PNWRB-249. Portland, OR: U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific
Northwest Research Station. 18 p.
United States
Department of Agriculture
Forest Inventory
& Analysis
dramatically from the 1973–82
period to the 1982–94 period as
comprehensive land use planning
slowed development.
Recent PNW-FIA Publications
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Pacific Northwest Research Station
Forestry Sciences Laboratory
620 SW Main, Suite 400
P.O. Box 3890
Portland, OR 97208-3890
(continued from page 3)