Highlights for October 30, 1998
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS Completes Vegetation Mapping for Scotts Bluff National Monument. On October 26, the Center for Biological Informatics sent a complete set of products from the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program to Scotts Bluff National Monument, including reports on vegetation field sampling methodology and classification, photointerpretation and mapping, accuracy assessment, vegetation maps, and a CD containing a full dataset of the reports, field data, accuracy assessment data, and spatial data. The data will be used for natural resources management in the park, including restoration of native grass stands and combating invasive exotics. This is the fifth park completed by the Program. The Center for Biological Informatics provides management oversight and scientific guidance to the program. (Tom Owens, Denver, 303-202-4259).
  

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• NBII Metadata Workshops: On October 20-22, Sharon Shin (USGS Center for Biological Informatics) and Jennifer Gaines (USGS Office of Biological Informatics and Outreach) presented a National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Biological Data Profile Metadata Training Workshop at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center Columbia River Research Laboratory in Cook, Washington. Participants were from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, USGS Western Ecological Research Center Reno Field Station, and USGS Western Fisheries Research Center Columbia River Research Laboratory. On November 3-4, Shin and Gaines will present the workshop at the USGS Northern Prairie Science Center in Jamestown, North Dakota. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)
  
• Invasive Species Workshop: On November 12, Sharon Shin (USGS Center for Biological Informatics) will attend a conference on Alien Species Databases, where she will demonstrate the Integrated Taxonomic Information System and other National Biological Information Infrastructure Web tools. The meeting is being held in Las Vegas, Nevada, and is sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Riley Memorial Foundation in cooperation with the American Phytopathological Society and the Entomological Society of America, academia, non-governmental organizations, and industry. The workshop will provide a forum to review and discuss programs and data products. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)
  

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.