Upcoming workshop: Accessing Forest Inventory and Analysis Data: Tools for Foresters

Workshop will provide an overview and practical approaches for accessing FIA data.
Workshop
Author

Matt Russell

Published

February 28, 2026

Upcoming workshop: Accessing Forest Inventory and Analysis Data: Tools for Foresters

  • March 20, 2026, 9:00 a.m. to noon
  • Held at the New England Society of American Foresters Annual Meeting
  • South Portland, ME

Join Matt Russell at an upcoming workshop to learn more about how you can leverage FIA data in your work. This workshop will provide an overview of how FIA data are collected across New England’s forests and will share practical approaches for downloading, querying, and interpreting FIA data for customized applications and reporting needs. The workshop is perfect for foresters, forest managers, forest analysts, and students wanting to know more about forestry data.

Background

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program within the USDA Forest Service collects a tremendous amount of data on the status and trends of forest conditions. These data are publicly available and exist in a variety of formats, but foresters and forest managers often require customized data that is summarized in a way that solves a specific problem. This workshop will provide an overview of how FIA data are collected across New England’s forests and will share practical approaches for downloading, querying, and interpreting FIA data for customized applications and reporting needs.
Intended audience: Foresters, forest managers, forest analysts, students

Learner outcomes:

Session 1:

  1. Understand the general framework for how FIA data are collected, e.g., sample intensity, core measurements, and length of measurement cycles.

  2. Be able to identify the strengths and limitations of FIA data collection methods and interpretation.

  3. Learn how to access state-level reports and other reporting tools that summarize forest conditions and trends.

Session 2:

  1. Understand how to find and utilize specific FIA data tables for specific information needs.

  2. Become comfortable with using the web-based EVALIDator as a tool to create customized summaries of forest conditions.

  3. Understand how to use the EVALIDator API for accessing FIA data using R and Python programming languages.

You can learn more and register for the meeting here.

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