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Solving National, Regional and Local Air Quality Questions Using the US Forest Service Forest Inventory Analysis/Forest Health Monitoring Program Lichen Indicator

Sarah Jovan¹, Linda Geiser², Mark Fenn³, Karen Dillman⁴, Andrjez Bytnerowicz³, Jennifer Riddell⁵, Heather Root⁶, Jill Grenon⁷, Martin Hutten⁸, Pamela Padgett³, Linda H. Pardo⁹ and Tomás Hernández Tejeda¹⁰

US Forest Service Forest Inventory Analysis (FIA) Lichen Indicator protocols and data are increasingly used to address forest health information needs across international, national, regional and local scales. At the international scale, a pilot project to evaluate air quality and climate status/ trends in Mexico City will determine whether the FIA Lichen Indicator protocol can be nationally adopted in Mexico. Additionally, the close correlation between FIA lichen community data and atmospheric nitrogen deposition, a strongly eutrophying pollutant, is supporting lower European N critical loads for forests and tundra. At the national level, the indicator is being used to set eco-region specific nitrogen critical loads across all US forested ecosystems; the continued production of gradient models is aiding this process. At regional scales, the Lichen Indicator is providing FS managers with highly systematic evidence of ecological impacts to forest biota from air pollution; map products are delineating areas of concern. At local scales, FIA methods and data are being used to map and assess agricultural air pollution in Yosemite NP, gas drilling emissions on Bridger Wilderness, cruise ship emissions in southeastern Alaska, ammonia deposition in Hells Canyon with regard to cultural resources, and to estimate nitrogen deposition in southern California.

¹US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, 620 SW Main, Suite 400, Portland, OR 15 97205
²US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Air Resource Management Program, PO Box 1148, 17 Corvallis, OR 97339
³US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive, Riverside, CA 7 92507
⁴US Forest Service, Tongass National Forest, 123 Scow Bay Loop Rd., Petersburg, AK, 99833
⁵UC Davis, Dept. of Land, Air, and Water Resources, 1 Shields Ave., Davis, CA, 95616
⁶Oregon State University, Depart. Botany and Plant Pathology. 2082 Cordley Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331
⁷Montana State University, Department of Ecology, PO Box 173460, Bozeman, MT, 59717
⁸Yosemite National Park, Div. of Resources Mgmt and Science, PO Box 700, El Portal, CA 95318
⁹US Forest Service, Northern Research Station, PO Box 968, Burlington, VT 05402
¹⁰Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales, Ave. Progreso 5, Col. Viveros de Coyoacán, C.P., 04410 Mexico