Sponsors (4)
The bill improves national forest data quality and carbon accounting and expands public access to forest information, but does so at increased program and user cost, with added privacy risks and potential strain on agency capacity.
Scientists, land managers, and state/local governments gain a standardized, nationally consistent forest inventory with improved carbon accounting and updated remote-sensing/ML methods, enabling better planning, climate mitigation decisions, and higher-quality forest data.
Public and private stakeholders (including utilities and businesses) get easier access to FIA data and biennial national statistics, improving transparency and supporting more informed policy, management, and commercial decisions.
The Forest Service can charge fees for complex data requests, allowing it to recover processing costs and sustain data services without relying solely on new appropriations.
Expanded data collection (owner surveys, timber products studies) and new reporting requirements will raise program costs and could create budgetary pressure or divert Forest Service resources, potentially affecting other services.
Fees for complex FIA data requests will increase costs for researchers and small organizations, making data access more expensive for nonprofits and academic users.
Broader data sharing and centralized access raise privacy and confidentiality risks for woodland owners and industry if protections fail, potentially exposing sensitive ownership or business information.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Strengthens and standardizes Forest Service FIA data collection and reporting, adds carbon reporting and new data sources, requires strategic-plan timing and public reports, and creates a data-request office with fee authority.
Official title: Amend the Forest and Rangeland Renewable Resources Research Act of 1978 to modify the forest inventory and analysis program.
Introduced February 11, 2025 by Thomas Jonathan Ossoff · Last progress February 11, 2025
Expands and modernizes Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program requirements to improve national forest data, add explicit carbon reporting, require new data-collection methods and consistent national standards, accelerate and regularize strategic planning, increase public data access while protecting confidentiality, and create an office/platform for handling complex external data requests. It also adds remote sensing and machine‑learning examples to an existing Agriculture Improvement Act cross‑reference.