The Forest Inventory and Analysis program (FIA) of the U.S. Forest Service monitors status and trends in forested ecoregions nationwide. The complex nature of this broad-scale, strategic-level inventory demands constant evolution and evaluation of methods to get the best information possible while continuously increasing efficiency. In 2004, the "Nevada Photo-Based Inventory Pilot" (NPIP) was launched and involved the acquisition and processing of large-scale aerial photography (LSP) throughout the State of Nevada. The over-arching goals of this pilot are to exceed information requirements, accelerate inventory timelines, and reduce inventory costs. Meeting these objectives requires the development of several complex and inter-related procedures, including photo-sampling protocol, statistical estimators, cover measurement techniques, and improved methods for mapping forest and nonforest attributes. This report documents the first of these procedures, the photo-sampling protocol for the NPIP project.