Current Budgetary Challenges for FS R&D and FIA
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Current Budgetary Challenges for FS R&D and FIA Richard W. Guldin Director, Quantitative Sciences USDA Forest Service 2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting Sacramento. CA
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Current Budgetary Challenges for FS R&D and FIA. Richard W. Guldin Director, Quantitative Sciences USDA Forest Service 2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting Sacramento. CA. BLUF: Bottom Line, Up Front. The current federal budgetary situation is very fluid. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of Current Budgetary Challenges for FS R&D and FIA
Current Budgetary Challenges for
FS R&D and FIARichard W. Guldin
Director, Quantitative SciencesUSDA Forest Service
2011 FIA National Users’ Group MeetingSacramento. CA
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 2
BLUF: Bottom Line, Up Front
The current federal budgetary situation is very fluid. It appears highly likely that a substantial funding reduction will be imposed on the FIA program in FY 2011.
The fluid budgetary environment has led us to some serious rethinking about what the “core FIA program” is that we will deliver in FY 2011 and FY 2012.If substantial funding reductions become reality, I propose two core strategies to our FIA stakeholders for FYs 2011 & 2012:
Maintain a consistent national program--active in all 50 statesContinue with an annualized inventory
Delivering these two strategies will require us to sharpen the focus of the FIA program by redefining:
The national core data to be collected and The analyses, reporting, and techniques research to be conducted
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 3
R&D Budget OverviewFS R&D Appropriation(million dollars)
FY 2010 Enacted
FY 2011 Pres.
Budget
FY 2011House
Bill HR-1
FY 2012 Pres.
Budget
Change FY 2010 to
2012 PB
Strategic R&D Programs
$245.073 $245.073 $233.834 -$11.239
Forest Inventory & Analysis Program
$66.939 $66.939 $61.939 $61.939 -$5.000
FS R&D Appropriation
$312.012 $312.012 $295.773 -$16.239
Other FS Funding for Research ProgramsNational Fire Plan $23.917 $23.917 $21.734 -$2.183
Joint Fire Sciences Program
$8.000 $8.000 $7.262 -$0.738
S&PF: Grants to States for FIA
$5.035 $5.035 $5.035 $0.000 -$5.035
Total FS Funding for Research Programs
$348.964 $348.964 $324.916 -$24.195
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 4
FY 2012 R&D Program Focus
Maintain critical research on: Nanotechnology; bio-energy, and bio-mass management Watershed restoration Forest restoration and forest resiliency, including selected silviculture, forest
management, forest products, and forest operations researchSignificant realignments in other research priorities will occur: Synthesize mature fire research and end it Focus pest research on invasive species; reduce work on established pests Reduce recreation research that can be done by others with local forest dollars Reduce research on traditional game and fish species Reduce inventory and monitoring research of threatened, endangered, and
sensitive species that have reached stable management solutions Reduce low priority air quality and atmospheric interactions research
Where possible, emphasize research that creates jobs and captures efficiencies
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 5
FIA Program Funding for FY 2012Total Federal Funding
FY 2010 Enacted
FY 2011 Estimate
FY 2012 President’s
Budget
Change from FY 2011
R&D Appropriation $66.939 $66.939 $61.939 -$5.000
S&PF Appropriation $5.035 $5.035 $0 -$5.035
Total Federal Funding for FIA
$71.974 $71.974 $61.939 -$10.035
In FY 2010, FIA partners contributed +$7.5 million of cash and in-kind support to the FIA program 9% in additional program funding
In FY 2010, the FIA program provided $13.9 million in grants and cooperative agreements to fund partners to: Collect data Develop new inventory methods, and Conduct analyses
State governments’ funding situations and the FY 2012 proposal puts these partnerships at significant risk
University
State Agency
Forest Service
Other
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 6
FIA Program Highlights For FY 2010
Active for the first time in all 50 StatesOnly missing Interior AlaskaNearly achieved goal of 1998 Farm Bill
Online data less than 2 years old for 42 States plus coastal Alaska3-5 years old in FL, NC, and MSMore than 5 years old in NV, WY, NM, LA, interior Alaska, HI
Started double-intensity inventories on National Forests in the South, through Region 8 contributionsData collection productivity and quality remains high
19,272 P2 plots visited by field crews; 1,204 included enhanced forest health data9% of P2 plots revisited by QA/QC crews
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 7
More FY 2010 FIA Program Highlights
Federal-State partnership is productive and highly efficient 392 federal employees205 State employees & contractors
203 publications; 74 in peer-reviewed journals10 user group meetings423 spatial data requests991 expert consultations
260 weeks of assistanceState reports less than 5 years old:
18 of 24 NRS States10 of 13 SRS States3 of 5 PNW States3 of 8 RMRS States
104,676 on-line FIA database downloads20
0220
0420
0620
0820
100
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
On-Line Database Downloads(thousands)
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 8
Key Projects Completed in FY 2010Six-state study for Secretary Vilsack identified renewable energy opportunitiesPotential of woody biomass in South Carolina as a sustainable biofuel supplyMaps of young forests supported wildlife conservation in Upper Lakes StatesNon-native invasive plant distributions in South were documented in “Top 50 Most Cited Papers”FIA data showed that structural and compositional diversity have little effect on stand productivity in Ponderosa pine forests
Rebutted a commonly held hypothesis that diverse stands are always more productive
Identified tree and stand-level conditions that promote Phellinus tremulae fungus attack in aspen standsFIA data plus Landsat imagery were used to:
Map forest age in California, Oregon, and Washington; improved estimates and understanding of regional forest carbon dynamicsMake national estimates of biomass losses and accumulation resulting from forest disturbances and regrowth
Lichen community indicator data were used to estimate N-deposition critical loads for western forests
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 9
Status of FY 2011 FIA Funding
The R&D Appropriation total in HR-1 is exactly the same as the FY 2011 President’s Budget
In the President’s Budget justification, we noted that $2 million of the $5 million reduction was for intensification of FIA plots on/adjacent to Experimental Forests. We intend to implement this reduction and stop EF&R plot intensification.The remaining $3 million reduction we will need to take will require immediate program adjustments the next 6 months. We intend to alter field work, because half of our program cost is data collection.
Total Federal Funding
FY 2010 Enacted
FY 2011 Pres. Budg.
FY 2011 CR Bill HR-1 5.035
Change from FY 2010
R&D Appropriation $66.939 $61.939 $61.939 -$5.000
S&PF Appropriation $5.035 $5.035 $5.035 -$0
Total Federal Funding for FIA
$71.974 $66.974 $66.974 -$5.000
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 10
What We Think Users Want …Set two prime strategic goals:
Maintain a consistent national program—active in all 50 statesContinue with an annualized inventory
Manage FY 2011 activities towards the future funding outlined in the FY 2012 President’s Budget. Proposals to be considered include:
Critically evaluate what data and analyses we can no longer afford at a reduced funding level
Terminate external research & applications linked to them Move key forest health measures to the summer P2 sub-
panels (e.g., soils, “light” versions of down woody materials and vegetation), because they contribute to carbon analyses
Make other P3 measures regionally optional (e.g., crowns, lichens, ozone), dependent on “soft” funding
Reduce the number of plots measured each yearAre these in sync with users’ thinking? Are there other options?
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 11
Topics for Discussion
Additional presentations today and tomorrow by FIA headquarters staff and regional program managers will delve more deeply into potential adjustments for FY 2011 and 2012We very much value your input on the tactical steps we will propose to take:
To respond to FY 2011 funding levels proposed in HR-1To retain flexibility to respond to whatever FY 2012 funding level ultimately emerges
We feel that the urgency of the FY 2011 funding level requires us to take immediate steps this field season
If users have other options they’d like us to consider, now is the time to lay them on the table
2011 FIA National Users’ Group Meeting, Sacramento, CA Slide # 12
What Does the Future Hold for FIA?
I foresee a different FIA program ...
