Highlights for July 11, 2002

I. Key Department/Bureau News

• USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program to Assist US Fish and Wildlife Service With Pilot Refuge Studies: Karl Brown, USGS-BRD/CBI, will meet July 31st with Region 6 US Fish and Wildlife personnel to review final products and plan future efforts to use the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) and Vegetation Mapping Program (VMP) protocols. This two-year program was jointly completed by contract with the Bureau of Reclamation and NatureServe (previously The Nature Conservancy). Two National Wildlife Refuges, Lacreek near Martin, South Dakota and Ouray, in Northeastern Utah, have the standard VMP products that include: classification keys, plot and field data, spatial data with attributes, species lists, an accuracy assessment, methods report, field manual, and appropriate metadata for the products. The US Fish and Wildlife Service is interested in using the NVCS as a valuable tool to assess the status of the National refuge system and hopes to develop a set of descriptive classes for the NVCS to address highly modified vegetation regimes. The Center for Biological Informatics manages the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. (Karl Brown, Denver, 303-202-4240).

II. Management Reform
Nothing to report this week.

II. Notable Congressional Activity
Nothing to report this week.

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

V. Key FOIA Requests
Nothing to report this week.