The Sixth Annual Forest Inventory and Analysis Symposium was held September 21-24, 2004, in Denver, CO. The symposium was integrated with the Monitoring Science and Technology Symposium sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. As with recent symposia in the series, we continue to experience a broadening of the range of presentation topics and welcome contributors from outside the formal Forest Inventory and Analysis program. The symposium organizers thank all participants and presenters and convey special thanks to those who submitted their papers for these proceedings.