title: Developing a national indicator of soil quality on U.S forestlands: methods and initial results.
abstract: The Montreal Process was formed in 1994 to develop an internationally agreed upon set of criteria and indicators for the conservation and sustainable management of temperate and boreal forests. In response to this initiative, the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) and Forest Health Monitoring (FHM) programs of the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service have implemented soil measurements as part of a national monitoring program to address specific questions related to the conservation of soil and water resources. Integration of soil assessments into the national FIA program provides for systematic monitoring of soil properties across all forested regions of the U.S. using standardized collection, laboratory, and statistical procedures that are compatible with existing forest inventory data. The resulting information will provide quantitative benchmarks for regional, national, and international reporting on sustainable forest management and enhance our understanding of management effects on soil quality. This paper presents an overview of the FIA soil monitoring program, outlines the field and laboratory protocols as currently implemented, and provides examples of how these data may be used to assess indicators of sustainable management as defined by the Montreal Process.
authors.affiliation: USDA Agricultural Research Service, Appalachian Farming Systems Research Center, Beaver, West Virginia, USA. katherine.oneill@ars.usda.gov
authors.forename: Katherine P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: O'Neill
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Amacher
authors.forename: Craig J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Palmer
mesh_terms: D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D035082:Federal Government; D016468:Forestry / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis*; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D012987:Soil