Highlights for June 26, 1998
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS Scientist to Address International Symposium. Tom Owens (CBI) was invited to speak at a plenary session of the North American Symposium: Toward a Unified Framework for Inventorying and Monitoring Forest Ecosystem Resources, to be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, in November 1998. Owens will talk about the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. The Symposium's goal is to build on the best science and technology available to assure that data and information produced in future inventory and monitoring programs are comparable, quality assured, available, and adequate for their intended purposes, thereby providing a reliable framework for characterization, assessment, and management of forest ecosystems in North America. The USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program is a vegetation classification and mapping program designed to give Park Service managers and scientists unbiased, reliable data and information on their vegetation communities to enable them to monitor, manage, and study these resources. CBI administers and directs the scientific activities of the program. (Tom Owens, Denver, 303-202-4259)
  
• USGS-NASA-USFWS Team Up On NAWMP Proposal: On June 16, Jim Getter (CBI) and NASA-Goddard Laboratory of Terrestrial Physics research scientists Dan Kimes and Ross Nelson met with USFWS Migratory Bird Management Program Office and PWRC personnel to discuss collaboration on a North American Waterfowl Management Plan (NAWMP) proposal. Kimes and Nelson presented an inventory approach predicated on the use of remote sensing and attending technologies. The group agreed to use the NASA approach as the basis of the NAWMP proposal, to be developed by BRD Cooperative Research and the BRD Office of Biological Informatics and Outreach, PWRC, NPWRC, the USFWS, and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. The proposal will be presented to the NASA Office of Earth Sciences July 7. (James Getter, Greenbelt, MD, 301-286-8635)
  
• USGS Assists USDA With DOINET Connection: On June 25, Peter Strong (CBI) worked with Jim Brown (LSC) and Kerby Sutton (USDA) to connect the new USDA Bardane facility into DOINET. LSC is providing an interconnection point for the USDA facility's wide area network connection to DOINET and the Internet. (Peter Strong, Denver, 303-202-4246)
  

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• Biological Data Profile and MetaMaker Training: On June 16-18, Sharon Shin (CBI), Jennifer Gaines (OBIO), and Diane Schneider (MESC) provided participants from the EMTC, EPA, Great Lakes Commission, and USDA (Fort Collins, CO) with a 2-1/2-day training course in the Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata and MetaMaker 2.1, the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) software tool for documenting metadata. The biological data profile was created with support from the FGDC Biological Data Working Group and is based on the Content Standard for NBII Metadata. Training sessions were held at the EMTC. On June 19, Shin visited with Paul Slota (NWHC) to discuss a future Biological Profile and MetaMaker 2.2 workshop. Discussions also took place with Peter Budde, NPS Central Region Geospatial Information Systems Coordinator and Ben Howell, NOAA-National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (Madison) regarding a possible collaborative metadata workshop for the three Madison-based offices. NPS would likely make the logistical arrangements. Spring 1999 and early summer 1999 are potential dates for the workshop. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)
  

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.