Inventory Measurement Rates Lag in Wilderness Areas Across the Western USA
24 November 2025
Abstract
The National Forest Inventory (NFI) for the USA draws sample data from all lands with equal intensity. Non-response in the NFI tends to be low on public lands relative to private lands, but this research documents higher rates of missing and delayed field plot measurements in wilderness areas relative to other federal lands in the contiguous western US. Given the extent and unique management directives of federal wilderness, discrepancies in field plot completion rates over this region could induce non-response bias in estimators of forest conditions at county or state levels. Further research is needed to identify the statistical impacts as well as the factors contributing to non-response and delayed response in wilderness.
Citation
David L.R. Affleck, George C. Gaines, Cici Conroy, Gianna Santino, Andrew J. Larson. Inventory Measurement Rates Lag in Wilderness Areas Across the Western USA, Forest Science (2025):