proved practical in field tests and have provided 

 a common basis for developing rules for predicting 

 resource characteristics with acceptable accuracy. 

 Although application of ECOSYM for management 

 planning at the National Forest, regional, and 

 national levels still needs to be tested, it is expected 

 to be a useful resource inventory approach. 



A related effort has been underway to develop a 

 compatible land classification system for resource 

 management agencies. To date, no compatible clas- 

 sification system or data base has emerged, either 

 within or among natural resource agencies, from 

 which data could be obtained without manipulation 

 to a common denominator. The need for a com- 

 patible land classification system became even more 

 acute with the passage of the Renewable Resources 

 Planning Act. Renewable resource assessments must 

 account for all the forest and range lands of the 

 United States, its territories, and its possessions 

 and must rely on data developed by the Forest 

 Service and other agencies. 



In response to this need, the Chief of the Forest 

 Service created a task group in 1976 to recommend 

 a land classification system to be used in these 

 assessments. This group has recommended a com- 

 ponent, rather than an integrated, system for uni- 

 form assessment inventories^. The four major compo- 

 nents are vegetation, soil, landform, and water. In 

 addition, climate is used as a criterion for separating 

 the vegetation and soil components. 



The purpose of the proposed system is to make 

 possible the identification of land areas with similar 

 characteristics and that respond similarly to man- 

 agement practices as constrained by environmental 

 conditions. Adoption of this system, which has had 

 input from many different Federal and State agencies 

 and disciphnes, promises to facilitate future assess- 

 ments, by improving resource inventories and pro- 

 viding a basis for extending research results to eval- 

 uate management alternatives. 



Important progress has also been made recently 

 to help insure that data collected by the Federal 

 agencies concerned with forest and range lands and 

 their associated waters can be efficiently utilized in 

 future national assessments. An interagency agree- 

 ment between the Bureau of Land Management, 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, Soil Conservation Service, 

 Geological Survey, and Forest Service provides for 

 Haison and cooperation in survey, inventory ap- 

 praisal, assessment, and planning activities for renew- 

 able resources. It assures administrative action 

 to minimize duplication and overlapping efforts 



^DriscoU, R. S., J. W. Russell and Marvin C. Meier. Recom- 

 mended national land classification system for renewable resource 

 assessment. Unpub. rep. on file at the Rocky Mountain For. and 

 Range Exp. Sta. 1978. 



and to enhance and encourage overall data col- 

 lection, data storing, appraisal efficiency, and pro- 

 gram compatibility. A similar agreement has also 

 been developed between the Bureau of Indian 

 Affairs and the Forest Service. 



In addition, a liaison committee has been formed 

 between the Forest Service and the Soil Conservation 

 Service to assure coordination in inventory, mon- 

 itoring, assessment, appraisal, and program activities. 



In a related effort, a case study of forest and range 

 land management planning has been underway to 

 develop and demonstrate how the national assess- 

 ment and Forest Service program can be Unked to 

 National Forest level plans.* 



Evaluation of this case study indicates that the basic 

 purposes of the project were met. National Forest 

 planning within this framework will provide for 

 refining, improving, and updating data bases devel- 

 oped in regional plans. This will result in an improved 

 basis for developing future regional programs. How- 

 ever, techniques to aggregate data from the regional 

 to the national level have not been fully developed. 

 In addition, this project has illustrated the need to 

 be able to deal with area or local resource unit data 

 in order to be more sensitive to the various local- 

 ized social and economic situations. 



Physical Responses to Change in Management 



One of the basic needs in improving the manage- 

 ment of forest and range lands is information on 

 the physical response to management programs. 

 Information is particularly lacking to describe multi- 

 resource interactions, or the relationship among 

 resources on a common area as management pro- 

 grams change. These are critical data needs for 

 managers of forest and range lands who must know 

 with reasonable certainty what effects their manage- 

 ment decisions will have. 



One recent effort to provide this kind of information 

 was aimed at improving planning at the National 

 Forest level and similar levels in other resource 

 managing agencies.^ It involved developing and 

 testing up-to-date techniques for predicting the poten- 

 tial differences among alternative management pro- 

 grams. These techniques are now being tested on 

 several National Forests in the West to determine 

 if they can aid resource managers in making decisions. 



This approach provides an assessment of both 

 physical and social conditions through: 



''Rocky Mountain Region. Forest Service, U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture. Regional Planning Case Study, preliminary draft, 

 July 17, 1978. 



' Brown, Thomas C, Forest and range land management: an 

 approach for local planning efforts. Unpublished report on file at 

 the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range E.xp. Sta. 17 p. 1978. 



328 



