# Plain Language Summary: Forest Inventory Review Bill

This bill asks the Secretary of Agriculture to put together a special panel of experts to take a close look at how the Forest Service currently tracks and measures the nation's forests. Right now, the Forest Service runs a program called the Forest Inventory and Analysis program, which basically means they go out and collect detailed information about America's forests—things like how many trees are growing, what types of trees they are, how healthy the forests are, and how they're changing over time. This bill wants an independent group of knowledgeable people to review whether this program is working well and whether the Forest Service is doing a good job collecting and using this information.

The panel would be what's called a "blue ribbon" panel, which is just a fancy way of saying it would be made up of respected experts from various fields who can give an honest, outside opinion. These experts would look at whether the current forest inventory methods are accurate, whether they're efficient, and whether they're actually helping the Forest Service and the public make better decisions about managing America's forests. They'd essentially be doing a quality check on how the Forest Service gathers and uses forest data.

This matters because accurate forest information is important for lots of reasons—it helps the government manage forests for timber, wildlife, recreation, and fire prevention. It also helps scientists understand how forests are changing and how they're responding to things like climate change. By having experts review the program, Congress wants to make sure taxpayer money is being spent wisely and that the data being collected is actually useful and reliable for making good decisions about our nation's forests.

A bill to require the Secretary of Agriculture to convene a blue ribbon panel to review the forest inventory and analysis program of the Forest Service, and for other purposes.

King, Angus S., Jr.

This bill directs the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to convene a blue ribbon panel to review the forest inventory and analysis program (a program that accounts for public and private forests and their resources in the United States). The panel shall conduct a review of the past progress, current priorities, and future needs of such program with respect to national monitoring of forest carbon, climate change, forest health, and sustainable wood products. The review shall include consideration of <ul> <li>the modernization of the program broadly and specifically relating to the integration of advanced remote sensing technologies and methods such as small area estimation; and </li> <li> the possibility of more public-private-academic partnerships under the program to help meet the goals of the program and external needs, particularly relating to research priorities, operational implementation of current or ongoing science, and decision support.</li> </ul> The panel shall report to USDA, the Department of the Interior, and Congress describing the review by March 31, 2024.