State Forestry agencies also contribute to the CLFHM program. Currently, States contribute more than $1.5 million in cost-sharing funds and much more through in-kind contributions such as survey work, training, and quality assurance. Federal funding for the program is supplied through two budget line items within the Forest Service: Cooperative Lands Forest Health and Federal Lands Forest Health. Both lines are important to the program budget.

• Detection Monitoring is conducted on over 4,600 permanent plots spread through all fifty States. Indicators measured on the ground include biodiversity, soil characteristics, wildlife habitat, stand structure and condition, and air pollution impacts. Aerial surveys compliment this data with large-scale information on defoliation and tree mortality. Under the new FIA program, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing imagery are to play a much larger role.
  
• Evaluation Monitoring assesses the extent, severity, and causes of any forest health changes identified through detection. Current areas under in-depth study include vegetation diversity, soils, fuel loadings, and coarse woody debris.
  
• Intensive Site Ecosystem Monitoring is designed to study key forest ecosystem components at twenty-one carefully chosen research sites. Each site represents a major forest ecosystem in the United States. Low funding levels in FY 1999 has kept implementation of this valuable type of monitoring restricted to only one pilot project in Delaware.

The information gathered through the FHM program is compiled into an annual report which serves as an early warning system for broader impacts of insects and diseases, human activities, and climate change on forested landscapes (http://www.fs.fed.us/foresthealth/current_conditions.shtml).

States value the FHM program because it enables them to conduct survey work within an established national framework and provides forest health data which can be aggregated and compared at regional and national levels.

Through 1998, full-scale FHM monitoring has been implemented in twenty-seven States (Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming). For 1999, Hawaii, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, and Utah will join this list, and for 2000, the new integrated FIA and FHM programs will seek to expand full-scale FHM monitoring to all fifty States. We anticipate a cost of roughly $2.8 million to accomplish this.

Pest Prevention and Suppression (PPS):
State Forestry agencies receive additional forest health assistance from the Pest Prevention and Suppression program which supports projects aimed at controlling forest insects and diseases on forest lands of all ownerships. Activities conducted under PPS include presuppression surveys, postsuppression assessments, and comprehensive environmental analyses documenting the need for and anticipated results of a given treatment plan.

The Forest Service estimates that for every dollar of suppression funding needed, but not available, timber losses to forest insects and diseases alone amount to an average of $5.82. This figure is based on timber losses only and does not include the losses of recreation, water, or wildlife which are difficult to quantify.

Critical pest problems currently exist in all regions of the country. Situations which need new or expanded treatment include: the western spruce bud worm and Douglas-fir tussock moth in western mixed-conifer stands; mountain pine and Douglas fir bark beetle in the Rocky Mountains; gypsy moth in the hardwoods of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic States and now the Pacific Northwest; southern pine bark beetle in the Southeast; spruce beetle in Alaska; sugar maple decline in New England; buck moth in the live oaks of New Orleans; oak wilt disease in central Texas and Minnesota; and the recent outbreaks of Asian long horned beetle in the hardwood urban forests of Chicago and New York City.

According to Forest Service statistics, land managers completed pest suppression treatments on approximately 1.69 million acres of State and private lands during FY 1999. Numbers must increase in FY 2000 to counteract expected increases in gypsy moth populations. NASF supports full implementation of the Forest Service’s "Slow the Spread" program to control the gypsy moth. Through these efforts, Federal and State Foresters protected trees and timber as well as clean water, wildlife habitat, scenic beauty, and a wide variety of recreational opportunities.