The Missouri Department of Conservation cooperates with the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to provide the information needed to assess Missouri and America's forests. The "Nation's continuous forest census", FIA projects how forests are likely to appear 10 to 50 years from now. This enables us to evaluate whether current forest management practices are sustainable in the long run and to assess whether current policies will allow the next generation to enjoy America's forests as we do today.
FIA reports on status and trends in:
Light Range and Detection, which is more commonly referred to as LiDAR, is remote sensing technology that has become increasingly available and used for a wide range of purposes in the last 10-15 years. LiDAR sensors measure distances and are often used to map topographic relief by generating a mass of elevation points. With the advancement in computer processing, additional information collected with LiDAR sensors pertaining to forest structure (e.g., tree height and density) have also begun to be analyzed.
The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) is a long-term, landscape-level experiment measuring the living (i.e. birds, plants, trees) and non-living (i.e. soil, water, weather) parts of a forested ecosystem. MOFEP provides science-based information to forest managers so they may employ management practices that ensure healthy and sustainable forest, fish and wildlife resources while also providing opportunities to all citizens to use, enjoy and learn about their forest resource.