Plot Databases

Plot data with metadata soon will be available for download from the website. This will consist of an Access database containing a standard set of vegetation variables for all plots used in the maps, related to the grids using LEMMA’s unique plot identification numbers (FCIDs). Locations of FIA plots are proprietary and no plot location data are included. The database includes variable and code definitions for all standard vegetation variables.

For our draft data dictionary, please visit this link.

Primary sources of plot data currently in our database are:

• Periodic FIA inventories on nonfederal lands in Oregon and Washington, using data available in the Integrated Database (IDB) compiled by the PNW’s FIA Program. (Most recent FIA periodic inventories in Washington are not yet included in the IDB nor our database.)
• Current Vegetation Survey (CVS) for National Forest lands in Region 6 and BLM lands in western Oregon, which we obtained from Region 6/BLM. These data include the full grid intensification on BLM lands and two measurement occasions for most CVS plots on National Forests.
• FIA’s Annual Inventory data. We will be adding these data soon, as we begin modeling with more recent imagery data in Washington.
• Ecology plot data. We currently are incorporating the seven ecology plot databases available for download. Ecology plot sources are primarily Region 6, USDA Forest service, but with several additional sources including BLM.

The summary variables in the provided database are derived from the source tree data at the ‘forest class’ level, the level at which all GNN modeling is conducted. A forest class consists of all portions of a plot that samples forest land, including multiple forest condition classes where they are present. In our modeling, we do not recognize separate condition classes within plots, which are defined by contrasting areas of forest composition, size, density, and ownership, e.g., old growth adjacent to a young plantation (see FIA field manuals for more detail). Plots that straddle contrasting forest conditions, or that have obvious mismatches with the Landsat imagery, are excluded from GNN modeling.