The application of statistical survey sampling techniques to the assessment of forest resources (aka forest inventory) has been elemental to improvements in forest management practices across the globe. Sampling methods that can efficiently yield accurate and precise estimates are preferred by forest managers because collecting forest inventory data is difficult and expensive!
Two-stage sampling is useful in forest inventory because it can improve efficiency by reducing the number of stands (primary sample units) that are visited and by using auxilliary information for selecting sampled stands.