United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
Research and Development
EPA/600/4-91/012 June 1992
vxEPA Project Summary
Monitoring and Research
Strategy for Forests —
Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP)
To protect, manage, and use forest
resources effectively, the condition of
these resources must be known. Con-
cern about documented and potential
effects of air pollutants in combination
with other multiple, interacting stresses
has been a major impetus behind the
development of monitoring programs
in forests. During the past two years,
the forest component of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency's Environ-
mental Monitoring and Assessment Pro-
gram (EMAP-Forests) has been work-
ing closely with the Forest Service's
Forest Health Monitoring (FS-FHM) pro-
gram and other government agencies
to develop a multi-agency program to
monitor the condition of the nation's
forested ecosystems.
The purpose of this document is to
present a strategy that can be used as
a starting point by all government agen-
cies interested in participating in a na-
tionwide FHM program. Monitoring is-
sues such as design, indicator selec-
tion, and assessment are presented
along with approaches to resolving
these issues.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas, NV, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
Sections 1 and 2, the introductory and
approach and rationale sections, provide
an overview of the document's scope and
purpose. An overview of the overall Envi-
ronmental Monitoring and Assessment Pro-
gram (EMAP) is provided along with the
fundamental research questions motivat-
ing the development of the program. Spe-
cific EMAP-Forests goals and objectives
designed to answer these questions for
forested ecosystems are presented. A
short historical background of the devel-
opment of the EMAP-Forests program and
the FS-FHM program is given to help the
reader put the present planning process
in perspective. An important theme of
these sections is that a multi-agency FHM
program can be successful only through
effective coordination.
At present the FS and the EPA are the
major agencies participating in the FHM
program. The program started with moni-
toring and pilot studies in the east. In
1991, an effort was made to incorporate
western representation into FHM. This in-
cludes the state forestry agencies and the
National Forest System, the FS Forest
Pest Management (FPM), Forest Inven-
tory and Assessment (FIA) programs, and
research from the FS. As FHM expands
to all states, other agencies will be in-
cluded in FHM. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service
(SCS) is now involved with field sampling
of soils. Other agency involvement includes
the National Park Service (NPS), the Bu-
reau of Land Management (BLM), and the
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to name
a few. By 1995, when full implementation
is anticipated, the agencies that play ma-
jor roles in the FHM program will be rec-
ognized. These agencies will form the
nucleus for future development of the pro-
gram.
Procedures and Reporting
Section 3 describes the strategy and
procedures that EMAP-Forests will use to
Printed on Recycled Paper
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United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
Research and Development
EPA/600/4-91/012 June 1992
vxEPA Project Summary
Monitoring and Research
Strategy for Forests —
Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP)
To protect, manage, and use forest
resources effectively, the condition of
these resources must be known. Con-
cern about documented and potential
effects of air pollutants in combination
with other multiple, interacting stresses
has been a major impetus behind the
development of monitoring programs
in forests. During the past two years,
the forest component of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency's Environ-
mental Monitoring and Assessment Pro-
gram (EMAP-Forests) has been work-
ing closely with the Forest Service's
Forest Health Monitoring (FS-FHM) pro-
gram and other government agencies
to develop a multi-agency program to
monitor the condition of the nation's
forested ecosystems.
The purpose of this document is to
present a strategy that can be used as
a starting point by all government agen-
cies interested in participating in a na-
tionwide FHM program. Monitoring is-
sues such as design, indicator selec-
tion, and assessment are presented
along with approaches to resolving
these issues.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas, NV, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
Sections 1 and 2, the introductory and
approach and rationale sections, provide
an overview of the document's scope and
purpose. An overview of the overall Envi-
ronmental Monitoring and Assessment Pro-
gram (EMAP) is provided along with the
fundamental research questions motivat-
ing the development of the program. Spe-
cific EMAP-Forests goals and objectives
designed to answer these questions for
forested ecosystems are presented. A
short historical background of the devel-
opment of the EMAP-Forests program and
the FS-FHM program is given to help the
reader put the present planning process
in perspective. An important theme of
these sections is that a multi-agency FHM
program can be successful only through
effective coordination.
At present the FS and the EPA are the
major agencies participating in the FHM
program. The program started with moni-
toring and pilot studies in the east. In
1991, an effort was made to incorporate
western representation into FHM. This in-
cludes the state forestry agencies and the
National Forest System, the FS Forest
Pest Management (FPM), Forest Inven-
tory and Assessment (FIA) programs, and
research from the FS. As FHM expands
to all states, other agencies will be in-
cluded in FHM. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service
(SCS) is now involved with field sampling
of soils. Other agency involvement includes
the National Park Service (NPS), the Bu-
reau of Land Management (BLM), and the
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to name
a few. By 1995, when full implementation
is anticipated, the agencies that play ma-
jor roles in the FHM program will be rec-
ognized. These agencies will form the
nucleus for future development of the pro-
gram.
Procedures and Reporting
Section 3 describes the strategy and
procedures that EMAP-Forests will use to
Printed on Recycled Paper
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develop and implement an indicator-based
approach to the assessment of ecosys-
tem condition. Ecosystem processes are
linked to spatial and temporal combina-
tions of environmental components (cli-
mate, soils, topography, vegetation, tro-
phic structure, etc.). Therefore, the suc-
cess of an indicator and of the corre-
sponding modeling and assessment pro-
gram will depend on the development of
an appropriate diagnostic framework for
identifying major resources of concern,
suggesting research priorities, and defin-
ing attainable conditions of sustainable
ecosystem health. The FHM personnel will
develop an assessment framework within
which indicators may be used to charac-
terize ecosystem condition and/or be ag-
gregated into some common index of con-
dition (or signal of impending change). It
is necessary to adopt or develop models
of forested ecosystem structure and func-
tion that embody the most current hypoth-
eses regarding the interrelationships
among ecosystem functional components.
The EMAP-Forests assessment frame-
work recognizes the different uses to which
forests are placed. Societal values can
therefore be described as fitting into one
of three broad categories: ecological in-
tegrity, economic value, or sociologic value.
To provide a structure that will bridge the
gap between societal concepts and the
measurement of quantifiable components
of the ecosystem, a number of assess-
ment endpoints should be identified. Us-
ing such a structure, it is possible, and
likely, that any individual indicator will be
interpretable in the context of several so-
cietal values. Indicators may be comprised
of individual field measurements or aggre-
gations of field measurements; they are
the technical base for quantifying the char-
acteristics of the assessment endpoints
and carry no capacity to assign a value
judgement. They serve as a 'lag," mark-
ing the time and space that can be ap-
plied to multiple perceptions of value.
An indicator development process de-
signed to identify indicators that provide
information about an ecosystem condition
that is relatively free of societal interpreta-
tion bias is proposed. The framework
guides indicator development through an
assessment process that considers needs
and objectives, acceptable data uncer-
tainty, appropriateness of available ana-
lytical procedures, data management pro-
cedures, statistical procedures, and the
need for integrative assessment among
multiple indicators. To date, EMAP-For-
ests is examining six of these indicators in
pilot studies: percent absorbed photosyn-
thetically active radiation (PAR), vertical
vegetation abundance and structure, fo-
liar chemistry, soil characterization and
chemistry, growth (mensurational measure-
ments), and visual symptoms of pests,
pathogens, and damage. Samples col-
lected during the summer of 1990 are
being analyzed, and statistical summaries
are being prepared. Preliminary examina-
tion suggests that the methodologies for
all indicators except PAR are satisfactory
for proceeding to the next phase in the
indicator development process.
In FY91, the EMAP-Forests program
plans to implement a regional pilot study
in which it will add soil and foliar chemical
analyses, measurement of the vertical veg-
etation structure, and distribution to 1/4 of
the hexagons (in six New England states,
Georgia, and Alabama). The FS will con-
duct full-scale implementation of the vi-
sual symptoms and growth mensurational
measurements. Other EMAP-Forests indi-
cators under consideration include mea-
surement of PAR, wildlife condition, habi-
tat, and distribution, and landscape char-
acterization.
Section 4 presents the strategy of a
monitoring network design. The design of
the FHM program must permit statistical
estimates of conditions and trends with
corresponding precision estimates. This
section tells how the statistical design will
(1) provide explicit definitions of the target
populations and sampling units, (2) pro-
vide a sampling frame for selecting sam-
pling units, and (3) use probability samples
on the sampling frame. The design will
also permit analyses of a variety of pos-
sible subsets of the data, adapt to a vari-
ety of questions (some of which cannot
be specified in advance), and have a struc-
ture that permits sampling at coarser or
finer levels of resolution, as required. Also
presented is a discussion of FIA's statisti-
cal designs and their relation to the EMAP-
Forests sampling frame.
Section 5 presents the strategy for the
field sampling design that will be used to
collect measurements used to calculate
the indicators. The plot selection rules are
presented as is the plot design used in
the 1990 pilot studies. The primary pur-
poses for the 1990 pilot were logistics
studies and assessment of variation com-
ponents. With cost and time estimates
from the pilots, it will be feasible to begin
assessing optimal ways to sample spe-
cific indicators.
One of the primary goals of EMAP is to
detect trends of ecologically significant size
in a specified number of years; therefore,
it is important to determine as soon as
possible whether or not a specific indica-
tor will be able to meet its data criteria.
There are two requirements for criteria
assessment: the components of variability
must be known well enough to estimate
the performance of the indicator in detect-
ing a trend, and the size of the ecologi-
cally relevant trend must be specified so
the statistician can determine if this trend
can be detected.
By the start of the FY91 season, most
of the first requirement and all of the sec-
ond should be completed. By fall of 1991,
all of the variance components of indica-
tors should either be estimated or desig-
nated for future study. This will permit full
evaluation of current and future indicators
in the EMAP context.
Section 6 presents the strategy for sta-
tistical estimation and analysis, which in-
cludes the statistical procedures envi-
sioned for estimating the indicators and
sampling error with known confidence.
These procedures include methods repre-
senting status and extent of current re-
sources, techniques for the study of
change and trend, analysis of associa-
tions, and methods for integrating infor-
mation from multiple sources.
Section 7 presents the EMAP-Forests
strategy for assessments. Since assess-
ment is a process by which data are con-
verted into useful information, the primary,
short-term objectives of EMAP-Forests
assessments are to produce periodic sta-
tistical summaries, interpretive reports, and
integrated assessments that can address
the regional status and trends of the
nation's forests in relation to human-in-
duced stresses. The long-term FHM as-
sessment strategy will have to evolve to
maintain consistency with the overall
EMAP program. The FHM personnel can
help to determine overall, long-term goals
by taking an active role in client identifica-
tion, question definition, and evaluation of
user responses.
A peer review of the indicator strategy
in May 1990 by EPA's Science Advisory
Board endorsed the general approach to
forest assessment, commended the
progress made, and indicated that the nec-
essary linkages between environmental
concerns and measurements are possible
to define.
The strategy for FHM assessments in-
cludes exploration of statistical assess-
ment and interpretive assessment mod-
els, statistical regionalization using off-
frame data, use of auxiliary data bases,
and uncertainty estimation. Additional ele-
ments of the strategy are report produc-
tion, infrastructure, and planning.
Section 8 describes the quality assur-
ance (QA) program. The mission of QA in
FHM is to ensure that all FHM data and
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statistical products are documented and
of sufficient quality to satisfy the needs of
data users, policymakers, and the public.
EMAP will operate within the guidelines of
the EPA's Quality Assurance Management
Staff. Comprehensive QA techniques will
be employed to ensure the quality and
usefulness of the data. The overall poli-
cies, organization, objectives and func-
tional responsibilities designed to achieve
data quality goals are described. Other
topics discussed include the use of Total
Quality Management, the process of es-
tablishing data quality objectives, and QA
documentation and reporting.
Section 9 presents the logistics ap-
proach. Implementing a national FHM pro-
gram will require detailed, comprehensive
logistics planning. A logistics plan will be
developed prior to implementing any op-
erational phases of monitoring. The plan
will assist in the five operational phases of
field sampling, sample and data handling/
shipping, sample preparation, sample
analysis, and sample archiving. The FHM
Logistics plan serves two purposes: 1) to
provide information on the concept of FHM
and detail the responsibilities for logistics,
and 2) to serve as a guide to the develop-
ment of regional logistics plans.
In 1991, the FS plans to implement
FHM in six New England states, plus Mary-
land, Delaware, New Jersey, Virginia,
Georgia, and Alabama, and will be re-
sponsible for logistics. The EMAP-Forests
team plans on additional field work for
indicators that are not fully implementable
in several of the states mentioned above
and will be responsible for the logistics of
this activity.
Key logistics implementation compo-
nents discussed are a field operations sce-
nario for FHM, planning, staffing, training,
communications, contracting, safety,
scheduling, quality assurance/quality con-
trol, information management, review/rec-
ommendations of the logistics strategy and
inventory/storage of supplies.
Section 10 describes the information
management (IM) system for a national
FHM program that is achievable five years
from now. The current IM system is em-
bedded in the description of the future IM
system. The level of detail reflects the
level of uncertainty concerning the future
direction of FHM and the future of tech-
nology. Flexibility is a key concept in the
IM system. An IM system that cannot or
will not adapt to change will be obsolete
before it is implemented.
The IM strategy includes establishing a
Forest Information Center and designing
field and laboratory systems. Key elements
of these systems include use of portable
data recorders (PDRs) and a geographic
information system (GIS), use of a Global
Positioning System (GPS), field data col-
lection and PDR programs, sample and
shipment tracking on the PDRs, field com-
munications, and various laboratory sys-
tems. Database management will include
maintaining a comprehensive data inven-
tory, data set index, code libraries and
data dictionary, and the maintenance and
dissemination of FHM data to appropriate
data users. Also associated with the data-
bases will be database access and secu-
rity, data confidentiality, yearly statistical
summaries, and GIS interface.
Section 11 describes the strategy for
reporting, which refers to the mechanical
aspects of document scheduling, produc-
tion, review, and clearance. Included are
all documents produced by the multi-
agency FHM program, with a focus on the
reports and roles of EMAP-Forests. The
reporting strategy of EMAP-Forests is co-
ordinated by EMAP and is implemented in
cooperation with the FS and other agen-
cies that also produce monitoring reports.
Teams of analysts are comprised of indi-
viduals from several organizations. Suc-
cess within these multiple contexts requires
cooperation among agencies and individual
participants, and division of labor is an
essential ingredient of the strategy.
The types of reports delineated include
plans, operations reports, database sum-
maries, data quality reports, statistical sum-
maries, interpretive reports, and technical
proceedings. An action plan for the evolu-
tion of reporting capabilities is also dis-
cussed.
Conclusions and
Recommendations
This EMAP-Forests research strategy
document presents a strategy that can be
used as a starting point by all government
agencies interested in participating in a
nationwide FHM program. Monitoring is-
sues such as design, indicator selection,
and assessment are presented along with
approaches to resolving these issues.
•U.S. Government Printing Office: 1992 — 648-080/60019
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