Multistage remote sensing - Toward an annual national inventory

Remote sensing can improve efficiency of statistical information. Landsat d ata can identify and map a few broad categories of forest cover and land us e. However, more-detailed information requires a sample of higher-resolutio n imagery, which costs less than field data but considerably more than Land sat data. A national remote sensing program would be a major undertaking re quiring unprecedented partnerships between federal programs and stakeholder s.