A Decision Support System for the Northern Region

Project lead: Linda Vance

Analyst: Melissa Hart

SAL assisted with the development of IRPS, a region-wide decision support system for prioritizing Forest Service units to address National Forest Plan goals and objectives.  We helped the Forest Service with all phases of this project, from assembling the necessary GIS layers and conducting analyses, working with resource specialists to capture expert knowledge, to coordinating the preparation of a General Technical Report and creating the project’s website.  The example map here shows outputs for one of the six themes in the IRPS system: Theme 1, which is restoration of forests, grasslands, and human communities to a more resilient condition.  The outputs are opportunity scores, with higher scores representing greater restoration opportunities.  Here, low scores are blue, and high scores are red.

Visit the Forest Service IRPS website for complete information.

IRPS Theme 1, Vegetation Resilience

 Reynolds, K., B.  Bollenbacher, C.  Fisher, M. Hart, M. Manning, E. Henderson, and B. Sims. 2016. Decision support for the integrated restoration and protection strategy of the Forest Service, Northern Region. FS-1031. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service. 182 p.

Bollenbacher, B.L., R.T. Graham, and K.M. Reynolds. 2014. Regional forest landscape restoration priorities: integrating historical conditions and an uncertain future in the Northern Rocky Mountains. J. For. 112(5):474-483.