Abstract
The Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) is a widely used growth and yield model that uses tree and plot data to simulate growth, mortality, and response to treatments for forest stands to inform management decisions. The current version of FVS lacks the direct effect of climate variation on diameter growth. I use the climate response recorded in tree rings, complemented by inventory data from the ecologically unbiased Interior West-Forest Inventory and Analysis (IW-FIA) program to parameterize the diameter growth for several species in the Utah variant of FVS. Combining tree rings and forest inventory data allows me to parse the multiple drivers of tree growth and forest stand development, such as climate, competition, and site characteristics.