Highlights for October 16, 1997
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• GAP Modeling Groups At Mid-America Remote Sensing Consortium: On October 21-22, Patrick Crist of the USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP) will attend the Mid-America Remote Sensing Consortium at the University of Kansas, Lawrence. A joint meeting of the GAP land cover mapping and vertebrate modeling groups will be held at the Consortium. The USGS Gap Analysis Program is a proactive geographic approach to protecting biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing and geographic information system technologies are used to identify unprotected "gaps" that may be filled by applying alternative conservation strategies. (Mike Jennings, Moscow, ID, 208/885-3555)
  

• GAP and MRLC Assist Mexican Conservation Agency: In continued collaboration with its sister Gap Analysis Program (GAP) project in Mexico, U.S. GAP and the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) partners recently provided the Mexican conservation agency CONABIO with a cost analysis for acquisition and processing of a full set of Landsat satellite imagery for Mexico. This work capitalizes on the MRLC experience in assembling, financing, processing, and distributing the first set of country-wide Landsat imagery for the United States. The impact on biodiversity mapping of replicating the MRLC satellite image collection for Mexico is expected to be magnified by the effect of matching the two countries' collections. The USGS Gap Analysis Program is a proactive geographic approach to protecting biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing and geographic information system technologies are used to identify unprotected "gaps" that may be filled by applying alternative conservation strategies. (Mike Jennings, Moscow, ID, 208/885-3555)
  

• BRD Webmaster to Attend FedWeb97: On October 27-31, David Duran (CBI) will attend FedWeb97 in Bethesda, Maryland. This annual Federal World Wide Web Consortium Meeting brings Webmasters from all Federal Agencies together to share ideas and new technologies. (David Duran, Denver, 303/202-4248)
  

• NY GAP Hosts Aquatic Component Workshop: In December, the New York Gap Analysis Program (GAP) will host a workshop, "Making Gap Analysis Work For New York Waters," at the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Cornell University. This workshop will launch a statewide application of GAP to aquatic environments in New York. It represents the successful culmination of the first GAP pilot project for aquatic environments, carried out on the Allegheny River Basin in western New York. Mike Jennings (CBI), Director of the USGS Gap Analysis Program, will attend the workshop. The USGS Gap Analysis Program is a proactive geographic approach to protecting biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing and geographic information system technologies are used to identify unprotected "gaps" that may be filled by applying alternative conservation strategies. (Mike Jennings, Moscow, ID, 208/885-3555)
  

• GAP Hosts Landscape Biogeography Symposium: On March 17-21, the USGS Gap Analysis Program will host the Landscape Biogeography Symposium at the 13th Annual Meeting of the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology at Michigan State University, East Lansing. The meeting theme is "Applications of Landscape Ecology in Natural Resource Management." Mike Jennings (CBI), Director of the USGS Gap Analysis Program, will attend as cosponsor of the symposium. The USGS Gap Analysis Program is a proactive geographic approach to protecting biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing and geographic information system technologies are used to identify unprotected "gaps" that may be filled by applying alternative conservation strategies. (Mike Jennings, Moscow, ID, 208/885-3555)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.