Highlights for June 19, 1998
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS Coordinates Remote Sensing Mission Over Theodore Roosevelt NP. On June 26, NASA will conduct an overflight over Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Medora, North Dakota, to detect invasive plants in the park. DOI and NASA are collaborating in this effort to apply AVIRIS (Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer) data to specific land management problems in DOI bureaus. The USGS, NASA, NPS, and the Agricultural Research Service are joining forces to support ground data collection during the week of June 22 in preparation for the NASA overflight. These data will be used for calibration of the AVIRIS data and for creation of ground-referenced spectral libraries of leafy spurge and other plants with which it associates. It is hoped that use of advanced remote sensing techniques will enable accurate identification and mapping of this noxious weed, whose invasion of the park and surroundings has become the park's primary natural resources management problem. Ralph Root (CBI) is coordinating this multi-agency mapping project. Background and descriptive information on AVIRIS can be found at <http://makalu.jpl.nasa.gov/html/overview.html>, and a description of the AVIRIS flight plan at Theodore Roosevelt National Park is at <http://makalu.jpl.nasa.gov/html/avdep.html> under "1998 Planned AVIRIS Missions." (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)
  

• Biological Decision Support Tool Demonstrated at Yellowstone Anniversary Symposium. A recently developed biological decision support tool was demonstrated at a symposium celebrating the 125th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park last month in Bozeman, Montana. The decision support tool, known as BEST (Biodiversity Expert Systems Tool), was developed jointly by the USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and the University of Wyoming's Spatial Data and Visualization Center (SDVC). BEST was designed to make biodiversity considerations more routine in county land use planning. It can be used to identify potential conflicts between development proposals and the flora and fauna of a tract. BEST integrates both GAP data and local government data (e.g., parcel maps and zoning regulations) into a point-and-click geographic information systems (GIS) interface usable by people with little knowledge of GIS or biology. BEST was created for a pilot county within the Greater Yellowstone area and was demonstrated to DOI's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Mark Schaefer and DOI Science Board Executive Director Paul Dressler. Both Schaefer and Dressler commented on the need for a decision support tool like BEST in the Greater Yellowstone where human development and wildlife conservation conflicts are increasing. For more information about BEST, visit the SDVC home page at <www.sdvc.uwyo.edu/wbn>. (Patrick Crist, Moscow, ID, 208-885-3901)
  

• USGS Assists USFWS in 1998 Annual GIS Workshop. On June 30-July 2, Ralph Root (CBI) will participate in the USFWS National Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Workshop, an annual training and information sharing event sponsored by the USFWS. Root will provide a session on use and application of imagery in GIS databases for land managers. Workshop training sessions will be held at the USFWS National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.