Highlights for May 26, 2000
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• GAP Looks Back—and to the Future. The 10th Annual National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) Meeting will be held August 13-17, in San Antonio, Texas. The focus will be looking back on the first 10 years of GAP-and looking forward to the next 10 years. Special emphasis will be placed on biological informatics and the Mexican component of GAP. Concurrent sessions and workshops will cover vegetation mapping, predicting species distributions, mapping conservation lands, accuracy assessments, conducting gap analyses, building partnerships, interactive social science, and outreach. GAP is coordinated by the USGS and is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in Denver. (Becky Sorbel, Moscow, Idaho, 208-885-3555)
• USGS Participates in NOAA Metadata Seminar. On June 9, Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics will deliver a paper on the importance of metadata to an expected audience of 30 staff members of NOAA's Geophysical Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. The seminar will be followed, at a later date, by a two-day computer-based workshop at the NOAA facility. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• NBII Metadata Workshop.On July 18-19, Sharon Shin of the USGS Center for Biological Informatics and Michelle Gudorf, National Park Service Intermountain Support Office, will present a two-day computer-based workshop on the Federal Geographic Data Committee Biological Data Profile. Participants will construct a metadata record based on datasets they provide. (Sharon S. Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.