Highlights for January 14, 2000
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS Scientist Briefs FWS on Vegetation Mapping Program. On January 12, Tom Owens, Coordinator for the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program, provided Fish and Wildlife Service national and regional refuge planners with a briefing on vegetation mapping and classification. Owens presented information on the data protocols, standards, and applications of the Vegetation Mapping Program and how they can be applied to Fish and Wildlife Service refuges. The Vegetation Mapping Program is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program. (Tom Owens, Denver, 303-202-4259)
• USGS Participates in NASA EO-1 Validation. Ralph Root of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics is one of 35 participants on the EO-1 Science Validation Team that will meet January 19-21. NASA's Earth Orbiter-1 (EO-1) is the first of a series of earth-orbiting missions for the New Millennium Program. The mission will validate a number of revolutionary technologies that will provide Landsat follow-on instruments with increased performance at lower cost. The satellite will be placed in an orbit that follows Landsat 7 by approximately one minute. At the January meeting, each participant will present a brief overview of their specific EO-1 project, followed by a general mission overview, the operation/data processing system, and the science validation facility. An overview of each instrument aboard the E0-1 mission will also be given, with discussion on calibration and instrument checkout procedures. Participants will be provided with an opportunity to view the EO-1 satellite and its operations center. Root, with several co-investigators, will be using the hyperspectral imager called "Hyperion" aboard EO-1 to detect and map invasive leafy spurge in and adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)
• USGS-NASA Remote Sensing Partnership. Ralph Root of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics will meet with research scientists at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center January 24-28. Discussions will center on several ongoing partnership efforts involving application of remote sensing technologies to biological resource issues on Department of Interior lands. Additional partnering efforts will also be pursued, focusing on testing state-of-the-art and prototype remote sensing capabilities such as LIDAR, RADAR, Landsat 7 ETM+, and thermal imaging for vegetation mapping, fire fuel delineation, forest canopy definition, forest disease detection, and energy balance estimation. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)

• USGS Rebuilds Records Management Program. During the week of January 17, under the direction of USGS Records Management Officer Ellen K. Findley, Records Liaison Officers from the four divisions will meet in Reston to begin rebuilding the USGS records management program. Key issues include updating and correcting current records schedules, scheduling unscheduled records, determining disposition of electronic records, and achieving compliance with National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) regulations. In February 1998, NARA submitted an extensive evaluation of USGS records management, detailing what USGS needs to do to achieve compliance. As the newest division of USGS, BRD has not yet established a schedule. Records are defined by NARA as "all documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received under Federal law or in transacting Government business." Organized in teams, participants will rework the current schedule, with the objective of redrafting a substantial portion of the schedule by the end of the three-day meeting. The goal is to establish a single, integrated, compliant schedule for all USGS divisions. At that point, the records officers will begin efforts to seek input from other USGS employees. (Susan Fayad, Denver, 303-202-4224)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• USGS Scientist Assists ISO. The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) requested that Susan Stitt of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics assist in reviewing the Committee Draft for ISO TC211 Profiles. Stitt's expertise was requested because of her experience with the creation of the Biological Data Profile of the FGDC's Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. The Committee Draft is the stage in the standards development process before releasing a draft standard for public review. This draft international standard defines profiles relating to international standards for geospatial data management and geoprocessing. It identifies who may create a profile, how files are to be created, why a profile might be created, as well as what a profile consists of. The FGDC plans to create a profile of the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) metadata standard, which will supercede the FGDC's Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. The ISO metadata standard is currently released for public review. (Susan Stitt, Denver, 303-202-4234)

• USGS Assists Coeur d'Alene Tribe with Metadata. At the request of Coeur d'Alene Tribe GIS coordinator Frank Roberts, Susan Stitt of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics provided the Tribe with technical assistance and support in obtaining the Image Map version of the Federal Geographic Data Committee Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata. Due to the difficulty in maintaining the Tribe's Internet connection, the files were loaded onto their local intranet server. (Susan Stitt, Denver, 303-202-4234)
• NBII Metadata Training. On January 19-20, Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics will visit the USGS Midcontinent Ecological Science Center (MESC) to provide two one-day computer-assisted National Biological Information Infrastructure Metadata training sessions. The Center is expecting approximately 50 staff members to attend during the scheduled two days. Diane Schneider of MESC is hosting the workshops. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.