Highlights for July 27, 2001

I. Key Department/Bureau News

• USGS Office of Biological Informatics (BIO) Launches Trilingual Web Site for Trilateral Committee: The U.S. Geological Survey, on behalf of the wildlife conservation agencies of the United States (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service), Mexico (SEMARNAT), and Canada (Environment Canada), has developed a trilingual web site (www.trilat.org) for the Canada/Mexico/US Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management. As a regularly updated information resource, the site will support the Committee’s mandate to facilitate cooperation and coordination among the wildlife agencies of the three nations, as well as the development of partnerships with other interested entities. USGS/BIO, as the U.S. Co-Chair of the Trilateral Committee's Biodiversity Information Working Table, designed and is hosting the site; the Canadian and Mexican Co-Chairs are providing the French and Spanish translations of the site pages. (Barbara Bauldock, Reston, 703-648-4295)

II. Agency Work on Presidential Initiatives

• NBII and the International Union of Forest Research Organizations' Global Forest Information System Working Group Meeting, Portland, Oregon, August 12-15, 2001: IUFRO is a non-profit, non-governmental international organization open to organizations and individuals involved in forestry research. IUFRO aspires to bring together scientific knowledge about all aspects of trees and forests through the cooperative efforts of its world-wide member research organizations and scientists. Through this means it seeks to promote the sustainable use of forest ecosystems to provide multiple benefits for local people and for society as a whole. The Global Forest Information System Working Group strives to develop a NBII type of information system focusing on global forestry issues. The National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) will be represented by Sharon Shin (CBI), Dave Peterson (FRESC-Cascadia Field Station) and George Lienkaemper (FRESC) from the Pacific Northwest Information Node. Shin and Peterson will make a presentation on Node Manager's Training. Lienkaemper will make a presentation on the Pacific Northwest Information Node. (Sharon Shin, Denver, 303-202-4230).

III. Notable Congressional Activity
Nothing to report this week.

IV. Press/Media Inquiries
Nothing to report this week.

V. Key FOIA Requests
Nothing to report this week.