The northern Lake States comprise one of the most densely forested regions of the nation, with 41% of the total area or 51.9 million acres in forested lands. About 49 million acres of this forestland is considered commercial forest, and 52% of this commercial forestland is owned by the nonindustrial private sector. The private sector relies upon information made available through federal and state programs, whereas federal and state agencies routinely collect and manage information concerning their respective land holdings.

Much of the second-growth forest of the Lake States is now reaching commercial maturity. And while demands for forest products are increasing within this region, lands available for timber production continue to decrease due to urban and industrial development, construction of second homes, and the emergence of conflicting land uses. Surveys indicate that many Americans perceive a need for decreased emphasis on forest commodity production and increased emphasis on noncommodity values (e.g., recreation and aesthetics), yet other Americans depend upon forests for employment and community development. These divergent expectations, and associated issues, sum to a need for obtaining and using the best information available on ecological and social conditions in the Great Lakes region for natural resource planning and management.

This is an interagency project involving the USDA Forest Service and Natural Resource Conservation Service, USDI Biological Resource Division, the US Environmental Protection Agency, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, the University of Michigan, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and the University of Minnesota at Duluth. This project focuses on the Great Lakes region, and consists of two phases: data assemblage and analysis.

The first phase has brought together existing information that historically had been collected and managed by different federal and state organizations. This includes (1) environmental information such as climatic gradients, surficial geology, ecological units, soils, hydrography, drainage patterns, and contaminants; (2) biological information such as current and historical forest conditions, and the incidence of infestation by insects and diseases; (3) socioeconomic information such as land use and ownership, human demographics, recreational supply and demand, and road densities; and (4) ecological process information on the frequency and effects of natural and anthropogenic disturbance associated with fire and wind events, and resource development and consumption.

Spatial information has been processed according to specified data standards in a common geographic information systems (GIS) data format. The standards are made available to government agencies and the private sector on CD-ROM and over the Internet. Equipment, technology, and expertise available at the USDA Forest Service, the USDI Biological Resource Division, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, and cooperating universities have been used to meet these objectives.