Highlights for June 23, 2000
USGS Center for Biological Informatics

I. Key Department News:

• USGS Participates in Leafy Spurge Collaboration. During the week of June 26, scientists from the USGS Center for Biological Informatics will be joining partners from the National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, and USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) to obtain ground spectra of invasive leafy spurge and associated vegetation types in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This field work is in support of the development of an early detection system for regional delineation of leafy spurge, sponsored by TEAM Leafy Spurge. The overall goal of the project is determination of the most effective remote sensing techniques for tracking the progress of leafy spurge invasions and development of an expert system that will help predict locations and rates of spread of this invasive species. TEAM Leafy Spurge is a USDA-ARS research and demonstration program focused on the Little Missouri River and associated watersheds in Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Its goal is to research, develop, and demonstrate ecologically based integrated pest management strategies that landowners and land managers can use to achieve effective, affordable leafy spurge control. (Ralph Root, Denver, 303-202-4232)

• Colorado Plateau LUHNA Covers New Ground. The Colorado Plateau Land Use History of North America (CP-LUHNA) project team recently updated the CP-LUHNA Web site, with extensive additions to the "Places" section and additions to the searchable bibliography. The site currently consists of more than 300 searchable Web pages containing more than 500 images and a 1,600-citation bibliography. Contributions to the site have been obtained from researchers, scientists, land managers, photographers, data specialists, and others. Of particular value to the site was completion of a contract with photographer and essayist Ray Wheeler for a portfolio of 300 photographic images of the Colorado Plateau and a pair of essays on plans for development of large-scale water and energy projects and the reasons for their limited deployment. Several new pages are being developed, including a Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Vegetation Sampling project page, a Utah Division of State History Oral History project page, and additions to the Zion National Park, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, and Arizona Strip pages. (Susan Stitt, Denver, 303-202-4234)

II. Agency Works on Presidential Initiatives:

• NBII-CERES Thesaurus Aids Users. The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) has been engaged in a thesaurus partnership project with the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES) to construct an integrated, controlled environmental vocabulary. The primary function of the thesaurus will be to "label" units of information (e.g., Web page, metadata record, digitized photo) to identify them for retrieval, making it possible for users to access a variety of distributed information resources linked by common thesaurus keywords. The thesaurus project is also developing an application that will network a number of other pertinent thesauri through a common Web interface, starting with the Integrated Taxonomic Information System. In preparation for release of the thesaurus in late June, the NBII has developed a Vocabulary Framework Document and a Plan for Continued Development of the NBII Vocabulary. (Susan Fayad, Denver, 303-202-4224)

III. Notable Congressional Activity: No report.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries: No report.

V. FOIA Requests: No report.