REGIONAL MONITORING WITH PLOT NETWORKS

The national Forest Health Detection Monitoring Program, was initiated first in the eastern United States, in partial response to findings f rom the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program. This paper pre sents an overview of that program as it is extended from its focus in the eastern United States to a national program. The paper describes t he basic concerns driving the program; presents a summary of the sampl ing design; emphasizes the importance of proper planning, beginning wi th an information needs assessment with the various data and informati on users; and discusses the process of selecting data elements and ind icators of change to monitor.