Highlights for July 2, 1999
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

• USGS Addresses County Needs. On July 17-20, two BRD resources will be presented to the 1999 National Association of Counties (NACO) Annual Meeting in St. Louis. Patrick Crist of the USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP) will demonstrate the use of a pilot decision support system combining GAP data on animal and plant community distributions with other geographic information systems (GIS) and expert data from the USGS and Teton County, Wyoming. The decision support system allows planners to easily identify potential conflicts between proposed human activities and native species and plant communities, as well as pinpointing possible mitigation measures. NACO attendees will also be provided with a fact sheet describing the Community Asset and Development System (CADIS), a project that brings together the private and public sectors to create a high-quality GIS for Northwest Arkansas. The Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, is partnering with the National Association of Counties, Intergraph Corporation, the Bank of Fayetteville, the Northwest Arkansas Council, and the USGS to provide an extensive suite of information about the region to the counties, communities, and businesses of the area. Information on GAP is available at http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/ the CADIS Web site can be accessed at http://www.cast.uark.edu/local/cadis. (Patrick Crist, Moscow, ID, 208-885-3901; Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)

• Multiagency Project Seeks Invasive Plants in National Park. During the week of July 5, a multiagency project to detect and map leafy spurge at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in Medora, North Dakota, will be undertaken with an overflight by NASA coupled with ground data collection. Ralph Root of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics is coordinating the project with the USGS, NASA, the University of California-Davis, the National Park Service, and the Agricultural Research Service. The ground spectrometer data will be used for calibration of the AVIRIS (Airborne Visible InfraRed Imaging Spectrometer) data obtained by the overflight, and for creation of ground-referenced spectral libraries of leafy spurge and other plants with which it associates. It is hoped that the use of advanced remote sensing techniques will enable accurate identification and mapping of this noxious weed, whose invasion of Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the surrounding area has become the park's primary natural resources management problem. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)

• USGS-NOAA Co-Chair FGDC "Meta-workshop." On September 26-29, Sharon Shin (USGS Center for Biological Informatics) and Ann Ball (NOAA Coastal Services Center) will co-chair a meeting of the FGDC-University Workgroup on Metadata Curriculum and Training Materials for university, college, and community college geographic information systems (GIS) curricula. The group will meet in Charleston, South Carolina, to develop modular metadata training materials. Materials will be developed for two-day, one-day, half-day, and briefing sessions. These materials will first be presented to a peer review panel and then provided to the academic team for integration into established GIS curricula, as well as to the distance learning team. The modules will require incorporation of the International Organization for Standardization metadata standard at the appropriate time. Due to varying levels of technology in the training and education communities, the training materials will be developed as both downloadable files and as low technology products. Publication of the materials and associated funds may be added to the National Spatial Data Infrastructure "Don't Duck Metadata" grant awarded to the National Biological Information Infrastructure. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.