UMaine forest research center leads call to modernize national forest inventory
Authors petition for a new Blue Ribbon Panel to strengthen the USDA Forest Service FIA program for comprehensive forest monitoring, digital forest intelligence, and stronger forest-sector competitiveness
ORONO, Maine – June 29, 2026 – The University of Maine’s Center for Research on Sustainable Forests (CRSF) and its Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS) program are helping lead a national call to modernize the national forest inventory that underpins forest management, markets, policy, and investment across the United States.
A new Journal of Forestry forum article, “Modernizing America’s National Forest Inventory through a Third Blue Ribbon Panel,” urges USDA leadership, Congress, and key partners to convene an independent, expert technical review of the USDA Forest Service’s Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program. The article is led by Dr. Aaron Weiskittel, professor of forest modeling & biometrics, director of CRSF and CAFS, and Irving Chair of Forest Ecosystem Management, with coauthors from industry, state agencies, federal programs, nongovernmental organizations, universities, and private-sector forest analytics.
The US forest products sector contributes approximately $427.3 billion to GDP and supports about 3.4 million jobs, counting direct activity and its ripple effects across the economy. American taxpayers have spent decades building the world’s most trusted forest inventory and measurement system, with more than 300,000 ground plots that track timber, carbon, and wildfire fuel across US forestland. That asset is now at risk. Yet taking the steps to update and modernize FIA practices and data acquisition methods would strengthen rural economies, domestic manufacturing, wildfire resilience (a growing concern throughout the country), and domestic competitiveness in forest markets.
The stakes now reach national security and economic sovereignty concerns. Recent Executive Orders treat timber imports as a national security risk and direct increased domestic production, raising the premium on knowing what the country’s forests can supply. The European Union’s deforestation regulation, which takes effect in December 2026, will require satellite-verifiable proof that imported wood is not tied to deforestation; presently, the United States is not equipped to meet those requirements, a reminder that forest data is now a matter of trade sovereignty and competitiveness.
Other nations, including China, have launched satellites dedicated to monitoring forest carbon and catastrophic wildfires that increasingly threaten communities, infrastructure, and response readiness. Timely, fine-scale FIA data is the ground truth needed to keep American analysts, industry, and innovators–not foreign regulators–setting the standard.
“FIA is an essential national forest inventory, monitoring, and scientific infrastructure for sustainable forest management as well as forest sector investments,” Weiskittel said. “It is crucial we now pair its trusted, ‘gold-standard’ ground-plot network with modern analytics, remote sensing, and open data systems so landowners, agencies, industry, and communities can make better decisions.”
FIA has served as the nation’s primary forest inventory system since 1928. In simple terms, a forest inventory is a regular check-in on the state of our forests across all lands and regions. It records what kinds of trees are growing, how many there are, how fast they are growing, whether pests or diseases are present, how much carbon forests are storing, and how forests are responding to storms, drought, wildfire, and other changes.
Just as we depend on doctors to use cutting-edge scanning and imaging technologies to monitor our health and inform our medical decisions, our nation’s forest managers and wood manufacturers depend on FIA data to support fiber supply analysis, carbon accounting, wildfire planning, sustainability reporting, forest-sector investment, and public policy. With rising demands from ecosystem services markets, pest and natural disturbances, and global trade, the authors argue that there is a need for more timely, spatially detailed, and accessible forest data across the United States.
The proposed panel of scientists, landowners, and forest sector experts, who encompass decades of experience, would advise on how FIA can strengthen its permanent field-plot network while integrating LiDAR (laser-based aerial scanning), satellite imagery, artificial intelligence, small-area estimation, and open digital architecture. It would also examine data confidentiality, precision standards, governance, workforce capacity, funding, and partnerships. This effort is grounded in prior Blue Ribbon Panels convened in 1992 and 1998 that helped guide annual forest measurement cycles, forest health monitoring, the development of nationally standardized methods, and improved public access to data, providing a solid investment in our nation’s forest health and productivity.
With a recommitment to updating and refining available technologies and workforce capacity, this investment will continue to grow. This ask is not for new bureaucracy or big appropriations; it is for authorization for the USDA US Forest Service to convene the nation’s top, independent experts, exactly as the industry-led panels have done twice before with documented results.
“America already has one of the strongest forest inventory foundations in the world,” Weiskittel said. “A third Blue Ribbon Panel would help ensure FIA remains a global leader in forest monitoring while supporting sustainable forest management, rural communities, and forest-sector innovation for decades to come.”
About CRSF and CAFS
CRSF supports sustainable forest research, applied tools, and science-based natural-resource decision-making. CAFS connects university, industry, and agency partners to solve operational challenges in managed forests; UMaine’s CRSF serves as a lead CAFS site through the Cooperative Forestry Research Unit.
Related links: CRSF | CAFS at UMaine | CAFS national consortium | CAFS research | Maine-FOREST
Media Contact
Aaron Weiskittel, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Research on Sustainable Forests; Director, Center for Advanced Forestry Systems
University of Maine | aaron.weiskittel@maine.edu | 207-581-2857