Excerpt from Iowa's Forests, 1999-2003: Part A The demands placed on forest resources will continue to increase, as will biological threats from nonnative plants and insects. The challenge is to maintain Iowa's forests in such a way that they are available for use and enjoyment today and for future generations. Reporting on trends in the condition and status of forest resources is critical in determining whether they are being used or maintained in a sustainable way. The usda Forest Service's Forest Inventory and Analysis program in partnership with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry inventoried Iowa's forest resources in 1954, 1970, and 1990. Beginning in 1999, annual inventories were conducted such that a portion of field plots was inventoried each year. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Iowa's landscape is dominated by agriculture, but beyond the fields of corn and soybeans lie 2.7 million acres of hardwood forests owned largely by 138,000 private landowners. Iowa's forests provide critical wildlife habitat, conserve our valuable soils, and protect our streams, rivers, and lakes. Iowa's forests employ over 20,000 Iowans in the wood products industry, providing over $1 billion in annual economic activity. Our forests provide boundless opportunities for outdoor recreation, from hunting and fishing to camping and hiking. What Iowan can resist the brilliance of Iowa's trees in fall color, the fragrance of spring wildflowers in bloom, the shade of a strong maple tree in the summer, or the warmth of wood stove burning native oak during an Iowa winter day?

The North Central Research Station's Forest Inventory and Analysis program began fieldwork for the fourth forest inventory of Iowa's forest resources in 1999. This inventory initiated the new annual inventory system in which one-fifth of the field plots in the State are measured each year.

2023 Midwest Book Awards in Nonfiction - Nature, winner In the last 200 years, Iowa’s prairies and other wildlands have been transformed into vast agricultural fields. This massive conversion has provided us with food, fiber, and fuel in abundance. But it has also robbed Iowa’s land of its native resilience and created the environmental problems that today challenge our everyday lives: polluted waters, increasing floods, loss and degradation of rich prairie topsoil, compromised natural systems, and now climate change. In a straightforward, friendly style, Iowa’s premier scientists and experts consider what has happened to our land and outline viable solutions that benefit agriculture as well as the state’s human and wild residents.