This dataset contains Canada's national forest inventory (CanFI) 2001
data for plots within the boreal region of the province of Alberta,
Canada. The attribute displayed is percent forested. Refer to the
"attributes" tab to view other attributes contained in this
dataset. For more information, refer to the CanFI 2001 document at: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collection_2007/nrcan-rncan/Fo143-2-408E.pdf
From CanFI:
Canada's existing national forest inventory (CanFI) is compiled about
every five years by aggregating provincial and territorial forest
management inventories and reconnaissance level information. Stand-level
data provided by the provincial and territorial management agencies are
converted to a national classification scheme, and then aggregated to
the map sheet, provincial and national levels for storage, analysis and
reporting. The most recent version (CanFI 2001) is derived from 57
source inventories.
Management agencies are continually updating and upgrading their
forest inventories, and the age of their inventories is continually
changing. As a result, CanFI is an accumulation of different-aged
information, collected to a number of different standards.
The current approach to national inventory is cost-effective in that
it is based on existing data. The process is well established and
accepted by the contributing agencies, and provides detailed information
about Canada's forests that is consistent with forest management
information. The inventory also contains location-specific information
on the characteristics and quantity of the forest resource, providing
mapping and spatial analysis capabilities.
While this periodic compilation has many advantages, CanFI data can
be up to 25 years old and are collected to variable data standards.
CanFI does not allow tracking of the rate and nature of changes to the
resource over time, nor does it necessarily reflect the current state of
the forests. It also generally lacks information on non-timber
attributes and is of unknown precision.
To address weaknesses with CanFI and to meet new business demands,
the Canadian Forest Inventory Committee (CFIC), managers of forest
inventory from federal, provincial and territorial governments,
developed a new approach to produce a national forest inventory. Instead
of a periodic compilation of existing information from across the
country, the National Forest Inventory (NFI) is a plot-based design
consisting of permanent observational units located on a national grid.
The purpose of the NFI is to assess and monitor the extent, state
and sustainable development of Canada's forests in a timely and accurate
manner. By collecting and reporting information to a set of uniform
standards, it allows for consistent reporting across the country on the
extent and state of Canada's landbase to establish a baseline of where
the forest resources are and how they are changing over time. In
addition to providing consistent estimates for traditional forest
inventory attributes, the NFI will provide a framework for collecting
additional data relevant to the reporting of progress towards
sustainable development (e.g., socio-economic indicators), as well as
data related to forest health (e.g., insect damage, disease
infestation), biodiversity and forest productivity.
The core design of the NFI has the following essential elements:
* A network (grid) of sampling points across Canada to insure
complete coverage;
* Stratification of the sampling points by terrestrial ecozone
with varying sampling intensity among the strata so that each ecozone is
adequately sampled for statistical reliability;
* Estimation of area and other attributes from remote-sensing
sources (photo plots) for consistency, timeliness and to reduce cost;
* Estimation of species diversity, wood volumes, and other
desired data from a ground-based sub sample for attributes not available
from photo plots;
* Estimation of changes over time from repeated measurements of
all sample plots for monitoring purposes and all plots will be
remeasured at regular intervals.to related forest inventory sites.