USDA to Resume Forest Inventory on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John

The USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis Program (FIA) announced Friday that it will soon resume the inventory of the forests of St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John this year. The program is part of a federal effort started in 1930 to collect, analyze, and report information on the status and trends of America’s forests. The remeasurement began in 2020 but stalled during the pandemic. The inventory will be coordinated by Belinda Ferro, an ecologist with the Southern Research Station’s FIA program. The work will be done by an expert team of biological scientists in collaboration with the International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF). Information from the inventory will be useful for assessing the sustainability of ecosystem management practices, evaluating wildlife habitat, and supporting forest planning and decision-making. According to the release, the team will collect information on how much forest exists, where it exists, who owns it, and how it is changing,...