rFIA

Increase the accessibility and use of the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis Database by providing a user-friendly, open source platform to easily query and analyze.
https://github.com/doserjef/rFIA

Category: Biosphere
Sub Category: Forest Observation and Management

Keywords

compute-estimates fia fia-database fia-datamart forest-inventory forest-variables inventories r space-time spatial

Keywords from Contributors

compute-estimates fia fia-database fia-datamart forest-inventory forest-variables inventories space-time

Last synced: about 22 hours ago
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Repository metadata

rFIA

• Host: GitHub
• URL: https://github.com/doserjef/rFIA
• Owner: doserjef
• Created: 2019-08-05T16:33:04.000Z (over 6 years ago)
• Default Branch: master
• Last Pushed: 2025-10-10T00:16:09.000Z (3 months ago)
• Last Synced: 2025-12-08T21:32:46.058Z (17 days ago)
• Topics: compute-estimates, fia, fia-database, fia-datamart, forest-inventory, forest-variables, inventories, r, space-time, spatial
• Language: R
• Homepage: https://doserlab.com/files/rfia/
• Size: 106 MB
• Stars: 56
• Watchers: 10
• Forks: 25
• Open Issues: 9
• Releases: 0
• Metadata Files:
  • Readme: README.Rmd
  • Changelog: NEWS.md

README.Rmd

          ---
output: github_document
---



```{r, include=FALSE, echo=FALSE,message=FALSE}
knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  collapse = TRUE,
  comment = "#>",
  fig.path = "man/figures/README-",
  out.width = "100%")
```
# rFIA: Unlocking the FIA Database in R 

[![CRAN](https://www.r-pkg.org/badges/version/rFIA)](https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=rFIA)
[![Codecov test coverage](https://codecov.io/gh/doserjef/rFIA-deleted/branch/master/graph/badge.svg)](https://app.codecov.io/gh/doserjef/rFIA-deleted?branch=master)

## Overview

The goal of `rFIA` is to increase the accessibility and use of the USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Database by providing a user-friendly, open source platform to easily query and analyze FIA Data. Designed to accommodate a wide range of potential user objectives, `rFIA` simplifies the estimation of forest variables from the FIA Database and allows all R users (experts and newcomers alike) to unlock the flexibility and potential inherent to the Enhanced FIA design.

Specifically, `rFIA` improves accessibility to the spatio-temporal estimation capacity of the FIA Database by producing space-time indexed summaries of forest variables within user-defined population boundaries. Direct integration with other popular R packages (e.g., dplyr, sp, and sf) facilitates efficient space-time query and data summary, and supports common data representations and API design. The package implements design-based estimation procedures outlined by Bechtold & Patterson (2005), and has been validated against estimates and sampling errors produced by EVALIDator. 

For more information and example usage of `rFIA`, check out the numerous vignettes and example use cases in the [Articles](https://doserlab.com/files/rFIA/articles/) page on our website. To report a bug or suggest additions to `rFIA`, please use our [active issues](https://github.com/doserjef/rFIA/issues) page on GitHub, or contact [Jeff Doser](https://doserlab.com/) (maintainer). 

_**To cite**_ `rFIA`, please refer to the publication in [Environmental Modeling and Software](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104664) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2020.104664).

## Functionality

|`rFIA` Function  | Description                                                          |
|---------------- |----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|`area()`         | Estimate land area in various classes                                |
|`areaChange()`   | Estimate annual change in land area in various classes               |
|`biomass()`      | Estimate biomass and carbon stocks of standing trees                 |
|`carbon()`       | Estimate carbon stocks by IPCC forest carbon pools                   |
|`customPSE()`    | Estimate custom variables                                            |
|`clipFIA()`      | Spatial & temporal queries for FIA data                              |
|`diversity()`    | Estimate diversity indices (e.g. species diversity)                  |
|`dwm()`          | Estimate volume, biomass, and carbon stocks of down woody material   |
|`fsi()`          | Estimate forest stability index for live tree populations            |
|`getDesignInfo()`| Summarize attributes of FIA's post-stratified inventories            |
|`getFIA()`       | Download FIA data, load into R, and optionally save to disk          |
|`growMort()`     | Estimate recruitment, mortality, and harvest rates                   |
|`intersectFIA()` | Join attributes of a spatial polygon(s) to FIA's PLOT table          |
|`invasive()`     | Estimate areal coverage of invasive species                          |
|`plotFIA()`      | Produce static & animated plots of FIA summaries                     |
|`readFIA()`      | Load FIA database into R environment from disk                       |
|`seedling()`     | Estimate seedling abundance (TPA)                                    |
|`standStruct()`  | Estimate forest structural stage distributions                       |
|`tpa()`          | Estimate abundance of standing trees (TPA & BAA)                     |
|`vitalRates()`   | Estimate live tree growth rates                                      |
|`volume()`       | Estimate merchantable volume of standing trees                       |
|`writeFIA()`     | Write in-memory FIA Database to disk                                 |

## Installation

You can install the released version of `rFIA` from [CRAN](https://CRAN.R-project.org) with:

```{r, eval = FALSE}
install.packages("rFIA")
```

Currently, you can install the development version from GitHub:

```{r, eval = FALSE}
devtools::install_github('doserjef/rFIA')
```

## Example Usage

### _Download FIA Data and Load into R_

The first step to using `rFIA` is to download subsets of the FIA Database. The easiest way to accomplish this is using `getFIA()`. Using one line of code, you can download state subsets of the FIA Database, load data into your R environment, and optionally save those data to a local directory for future use!

```{r eval = FALSE}
# Download the state FIA data from Connecticut (requires an internet connection)
# All data acquired from FIA Datamart: https://apps.fs.usda.gov/fia/datamart/datamart.html
ct <- getFIA(states = 'CT', dir = '/path/to/save/data')
```

By default, `getFIA()` only loads the portions of the database required to produce summaries with other `rFIA` functions (`common = TRUE`). This conserves memory on your machine and speeds download time. If you would like to download all available tables for a state, simple specify `common = FALSE` in the call to `getFIA()`.

**But what if I want to load multiple states worth of FIA data into R?** No problem! Simply specify multiple state abbreviations in the `states` argument of `getFIA()` (e.g. `states = c('MI', 'IN', 'WI', 'IL'`)), and all state subsets will be downloaded and merged into a single `FIA.Database` object. This will allow you to use other `rFIA()` functions to produce estimates within polygons which straddle state boundaries!

Note: given the massive size of the full FIA Database, users are cautioned to only download the subsets containing their region of interest.

**If you have previously downloaded FIA data and would simply like to load the data into R from a local directory, use `readFIA()`:**
```{r eval = FALSE}
# Load FIA Data from a local directory
db <- readFIA('/path/to/your/directory/')
```

----

### _Compute Estimates of Forest Variables_

Now that you have loaded your FIA data into R, it's time to put it to work. Let's explore the basic functionality of `rFIA` with `tpa()`, a function to compute tree abundance estimates (trees per acre (TPA) and basal area per acre (BAA)) from FIA data, and `fiaRI`, a subset of the FIA Database for Rhode Island including inventories from 2013-2018. 

**Estimate the abundance of live trees in Rhode Island:**
```{r warning= FALSE, message=FALSE, fig.width = .5, fig.height=.5}
library(rFIA)
# Load the Rhode Island subset of the FIADB (included w/ rFIA)
# NOTE: This object can be produced using getFIA and/or readFIA
data("fiaRI")

# Only estimates for the most recent inventory year
fiaRI_MR <- clipFIA(fiaRI, mostRecent = TRUE) 
tpaRI_MR <- tpa(fiaRI_MR)
head(tpaRI_MR)

# All Inventory Years Available (i.e., returns a time series)
tpaRI <- tpa(fiaRI)
head(tpaRI)
```

**What if I want to group estimates by species? How about by size class?**
```{r warning= FALSE, message=FALSE, height=4.5}
# Group estimates by species
tpaRI_species <- tpa(fiaRI_MR, bySpecies = TRUE)
head(tpaRI_species, n = 3)

# Group estimates by size class
# NOTE: Default 2-inch size classes, but you can make your own using makeClasses()
tpaRI_sizeClass <- tpa(fiaRI_MR, bySizeClass = TRUE)
head(tpaRI_sizeClass, n = 3)

# Group by species and size class, and plot the distribution 
# for the most recent inventory year
tpaRI_spsc <- tpa(fiaRI_MR, bySpecies = TRUE, bySizeClass = TRUE)
plotFIA(tpaRI_spsc, BAA, grp = COMMON_NAME, x = sizeClass,
        plot.title = 'Size-class distributions of BAA by species', 
        x.lab = 'Size Class (inches)', text.size = .75,
        n.max = 5) # Only want the top 5 species, try n.max = -5 for bottom 5

```

**What if I want estimates for a specific type of tree (ex. greater than 12-inches DBH and in a canopy dominant or subdominant position) in a specific area (ex. growing on mesic sites), and I want to group my estimates by some variable other than species or size class (ex. ownership group)?** 

Easy! Each of these specifications are described in the FIA Database, and all `rFIA` functions can leverage these data to easily implement complex queries!

``` {r warning = FALSE, message = FALSE}
# grpBy specifies what to group estimates by (just like species and size class above)
# treeDomain describes the trees of interest, in terms of FIA variables 
# areaDomain, just like above, describes the land area of interest
tpaRI_own <- tpa(fiaRI_MR, 
                     grpBy = OWNGRPCD, 
                     treeDomain = DIA > 12 & CCLCD %in% c(1,2),
                     areaDomain = PHYSCLCD %in% c(20:29))
head(tpaRI_own)
```

**What if I want to produce estimates within my own population boundaries (within user-defined spatial zones/polygons)?** 

This is where things get really exciting. 
``` {r warning = FALSE, message = FALSE}
# Load the county boundaries for Rhode Island. You can load your own spatial 
# data using functions in sf
data('countiesRI')

# polys specifies the polygons (zones) where you are interested in producing estimates.
# returnSpatial = TRUE indicates that the resulting estimates will be joined with the 
# polygons we specified, thus allowing us to visualize the estimates across space
tpaRI_counties <- tpa(fiaRI_MR, polys = countiesRI, returnSpatial = TRUE)

plotFIA(tpaRI_counties, BAA) # Plotting method for spatial FIA summaries, also try 'TPA' or 'TPA_PERC'
```

**We produced a really cool time series earlier, how would I marry the spatial and temporal capacity of `rFIA` to produce estimates across user-defined polygons and through time?** 

Easy! Just hand `tpa()` the full FIA.Database object you produced with `readFIA()` (not the most recent subset produced with `clipFIA()`). For stunning space-time visualizations, hand the output of `tpa()` to `plotFIA()`. To save the animation as a .gif file, simpy specify `fileName` (name of output file) and `savePath` (directory to save file, combined with `fileName`). 
```{r warning = FALSE, message=FALSE, eval = FALSE}
# Using the full FIA data set, all available inventories
tpaRI_st <- tpa(fiaRI, polys = countiesRI, returnSpatial = TRUE)

# Animate the output
library(gganimate)
plotFIA(tpaRI_st, TPA, animate = TRUE, legend.title = 'Abundance (TPA)', 
        legend.height = .8)
```


        

---

Owner metadata

• Name: Jeff Doser
• Login: doserjef
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• Kind: user
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• Company: Michigan State University
• Icon url: https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/42749980?u=d21a6f1e34bcffee44d9c2972f67d1edd5779ff1&v=4
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• Profile URL: https://github.com/doserjef

---

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