A Knowledge Base for FIA Data Uses

Knowledge management provides a way to capture the collective wisdom of an organization, facilitate organizational learning, and foster opportunities for improvement. This paper describes a knowledge base compiled from uses of field observations made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Analysis program and a citation database of more than 1,400 bibliographic entries from the past quarter-century. This synthesis provides highlights of early novel uses from the 1930s through 1976, suggests evolving approaches toward comprehensive assessments, and refers to the usefulness of forward-looking efforts to document the types of users, available attributes requested, and information in demand.