Sponsors (3)
The bill would significantly improve the quantity, resolution, and usability of forest and carbon data for planners, researchers, and industry—helping climate and economic decisions—while increasing program costs, creating privacy and access risks, and straining Forest Service capacity unless matched by funding and safeguards.
Researchers, land managers, state and local governments, and forest-dependent industries gain more accurate, higher-resolution forest carbon and biomass information (including below-ground carbon) through expanded data collection, remote sensing, and machine learning, improving climate, land-use, and resource decisions.
Public and private planners and investors get easier access to standardized Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data and biennial national statistics, supporting infrastructure, resource planning, and investment decisions.
Communities, small businesses, and forest entrepreneurs benefit from improved sub-State estimates and added timber products output studies plus a national woodland owner survey that clarify local wood supply, ownership patterns, and market information for economic planning.
Taxpayers and/or Forest Service priorities may face higher costs because collecting, processing, and analyzing more complex and frequent data will increase program expenses or require reallocating Forest Service resources.
Woodland owners and privacy-conscious individuals face elevated confidentiality and privacy risks from broader use of remote sensing and machine learning unless strong protections are enforced.
New reporting requirements and implementation deadlines could strain Forest Service staff, potentially delaying other programs or reducing service quality if additional funding and workforce support are not provided.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands and modernizes FIA data collection and reporting: adds new surveys/studies, integrates forest carbon (including below‑ground), standardizes protocols, and improves data access and reporting.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by Kim Schrier · Last progress February 11, 2025
Updates and expands the Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program to collect new types of data, standardize terminology and protocols, strengthen carbon reporting (including below‑ground carbon), and modernize use of remote sensing and machine learning. It requires a near‑term update to the FIA strategic plan, regular multi‑year plan reviews, improved sub‑state estimates, new reporting products, protected public access to data, and a data office or platform to handle complex external requests (with fees allowed to recover processing costs). Also requires publication of biennial compilations of FIA statistics and an annual business‑report on strategic plan implementation, including costs and workforce/technology use, and revises an existing statutory definition to explicitly include example remote sensing technologies and machine learning.