Highlights for October 29, 1999
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• NTM Sourcebook Proposal Presented to ASPRS. The Fourteenth William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium and the Land Satellite Information in the Next Decade III Conference have merged for a joint meeting on December 10 in Denver. The symposium is named in memory of William T. Pecora, former USGS director and Under Secretary of the Department of the Interior. Karl Brown of the USGS Center for Bioloigcal Informatics (CBI), in conjunction with Ralph Root, also of CBI, will present a proposed National Technical Means (NTM) Sourcebook at the classified section of the Pecora symposium, conducted by the American Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. This effort parallels the successful Geographic Information Systems Sourcebook created by USGS scientists working with the National Park Service from 1993-1997. Contents of the NTM Sourcebook will enable security-cleared personnel to evaluate procedures for creating imagery-derived products to meet unclassified user needs in support of research and operations. (Karl Brown, Denver, 303-202-4240)

• LUHNA Symposium Focuses on Colorado Plateau. At the 5th Biennial Conference on Research on the Colorado Plateau, held at Northern Arizona University (NAU) October 25-28 in Flagstaff, Arizona, perspectives on the past and visions for the future were presented by scientists from NAU, the University of Arizona, the USGS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, and the National Science Foundation. The symposium focused on past, present, and future impacts of anthropogenic and natural environmental change on ecosystems of the Colorado Plateau. The new Colorado Plateau Land Use History of North America (LUHNA) Web site, which was introduced at the symposium. The national LUHNA Web page is at http://biology.usgs.gov/luhna. Following the presentations, scientists from the USGS Center for Biological Informatics met with LUHNA program coordinators and principal investigators to develop plans for creating a LUHNA Strategic Plan by May 2000. The LUHNA program is supported by a partnership including the USGS, NASA, and NAU. (Ralph Root , Denver, 303-202-4232)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• Biological Data Profile Adopted. The Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, Part 1: Biological Data Profile, has been officially endorsed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Steering Committee. Mark Schaefer, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, acting for Secretary Babbitt in his role as FGDC chair, signed to endorse the standard at the FGDC Steering Committee meeting on October 26. The Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata, Part 1: Biological Data Profile, has been assigned document number FGDC-STD-001.1-1999. (Maury Nyquist, Denver, 303-202-4217)

• NBII Metadata Training Highlights. Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics and Jennifer Gaines of the Office of Biological Informatics and Outreach presented a half-day National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Metadata Workshop at the 4th Microcomputers in Fish and Wildlife Applications Conference held in Stateline, Nevada, on October 26. The conference was sponsored by the Organization of Fish and Wildlife Mangers, the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange, The Wildlife Society, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Sixteen attendees represented state wildlife agencies, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and the U.S. Forest Service; a professor participating in a professional exchange program from Taiwan also attended. Sheryl Soboroski of the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange participated as an NBII Metadata trainer-in-training.

  Gaines and George Lienkaemper of the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center will provide a one-day NBII Metadata Workshop at the USGS BioGeo99 workshop on November 4 in Lafayette, Louisiana.

  Soboroski and Helena Schaefer of the USGS National Wetlands Research Center will provide two half-day workshops at the Southern Division Annual Meeting and 53rd Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Conference in Greensboro, North Carolina, on November 8. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.