Roan Highlands Conservation Planning Initiative: A GIS Approach for Implementing State Wildlife Action Plan Priorities

Andy Carroll, who has previously been associated with the Southern Appalachian Information Node (SAIN) through the University of Tennessee - Chattanooga, has completed a project with the Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy and the Open Space Institute. The project was competitively selected for funding by the Wildlife Action Opportunity Fund. Southeast Regional GAP data sets were used in mapping application which is used to identify SWAP priority ecological systems. NBII is credited in the final report for hosting the public version of the mapping application. The project has led to new land acquisitions for conservation and was used to support the designation of a new North Carolina State Natural Area along the southern extent of the Roan Highlands. The final report of the project will be available for download from the SAIN website. Andy Carroll credits his previous involvement with SAIN and familiarity with GAP for the approach used in this project.

This team and a collaborative network of state wildlife action plan coordinators are submitting a proposal for developing a uniform multi-state view of SWAP priorities for the entire region.

Dynamic Maps For Bald Eagle Count Site

NBII – in collaboration with Oregon State University, Northwest Alliance for Computational Science and Engineering (NACSE) – hosts the Mid-Winter Bald Eagle Count Database, a long-term national data set on bald eagle observations. Previously, the site used basic image map tools to help users perform map-based queries by route. Although effective, this approach lacked the more immersive experience of a dynamic Web-based mapping interface, in which the user can zoom in or out and load in different base layers while viewing the overlaid data. Also, multiple adjacent routes were hard to discern from one another on a national scale. NACSE designed a custom mapping interface based on Google Maps that allows users to dynamically display and query route information from the Bald Eagle database as well as take advantage of the standard Google Maps features and controls, such as full satellite map coverage at multiple scales for the entire country. The ability to zoom and pan enables users to locate site and route information even when the locations are densely clustered. See the main site at Midwinter Bald Eagle Count Web Site and the “Query by Route” page that has the new mapping tool.

New NBII Search Debut

The week of August 10, the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) launched a new search engine. The new NBII search is designed to support the discovery of and provide access to critical national and global biological information and data. The new NBII search engine is based on the Vivisimo Velocity search platform and features dynamic clustering, faceted searching, extensive source control, integration with the NBII LIFE image library, and the ability to simultaneously search critical global and national biodiversity resources such as the Global Biological Information Facility (GBIF), Amphibiaweb, and the Missouri Botanical’s TROPICOS database. The new NBII search supports flexible information acquisition through web site/database crawling and real time federated resource searching. Finally, the new NBII search supports the custom development of multiple information indexes, geospatial integration with Google Maps, visualization, and flexible control over search result displays. The new NBII search is available on the NBII Portal at http://www.nbii.gov/.

NBII Represented at National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) Eastern Regional Workshop

Northeast Information Node (NIN) manager Marcia McNiff and Biological Information Specialist Bernadette LeMasters represented the NBII at the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) Eastern Regional Workshop held at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center May 6-7. During the breakout sessions, they participated in the Northeast and Southeast discussions respectively, and had the opportunity to meet with colleagues from a number of organizations located across the Eastern part of the country. Regional Workshops for the Central and Western regions were held in June.

Summaries from the three regional workshops are available on the Center’s Web site:

NCCWSC Eastern Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

NCCWSC Western Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

NCCWSC Centeral Workshop Summary (PDF, 28 KB)

(photo by John Mossesso)

Coastal Prairie Restoration Database Available for Download

The Central Southwest/Gulf Coast Information Node (CSWGCIN) has recently expanded its Animals and Plants of the Region section to include a page devoted to the coastal prairie region. Coastal Prairie provides information on those prairies situated along the western Gulf Coast in southwestern Louisiana and southcentral Texas. Researchers with the National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) have determined that a combination of anthropogenic changes have left less than one tenth of a percent of the original habitat undisturbed. Site visitors will discover the Coastal Prairie Restoration Information System (CPR), a downloadable Microsoft Access database, which allows users to search for data on 650 Louisiana coastal prairie species. In addition, the page provides links to information on the species at risk and the work being done by several groups to restore this critical habitat.

NBII and GBIF booth at ESA Conference 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico

The USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) will have a joint booth in the exhibits hall. The USGS-NBII is the U.S. national node of GBIF. You are especially invited to come and learn how to install and use the new GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT), for enabling access to, sharing, and integration of your specimen and observation records with those of the international community.

The Ecological Society of America 94th Annual Meeting will be held August 2-7, 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Visit the ESA website for more information and registration.

On Friday, August 7, 2009 from 8:00 AM-11:30 AM in the Brazos, Albuquerque Convention Center, Annie Simpson from the US Geological Survey will be leading the session on Standards, Protocols, and Tools for Sharing Ecological Information: Data Interoperability on a Global Scale (session OOS 49). Liz Sellers will be facilitator for this oral session. Other USGS representation will include Annette Olson, Viv Hutchison, and Lisa Zolly. For more details, visit the OOS 49 session page of the ESA website.

Organizer: Annie Simpson, US Geological Survey
Co-organizers: Elizabeth Sellers, National Biological Information Infrastructure, and Viv Hutchison, US Geological Survey

NBII Delivers for Data.gov

In a recent effort coordinated by the USGS Geospatial Information Office (GIO), the NBII was called upon to contribute geospatial datasets for inclusion on Data.gov. Data.gov is a high priority initiative of the Obama administration, the purpose of which is to increase public access to high value datasets generated by the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. The USGS was asked to provide freely downloadable geospatial datasets to help fulfill a Data.gov goal of 100,000 datasets in their system in the near term. The NBII contributed over 700 of approximately 2,000 datasets submitted to this initiative by USGS. Prompt response to the call for data was possible through the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse, a searchable system of records describing scientific research, and through the efforts of the USGS Biology Science Centers that contribute to the Clearinghouse by using it to document their work. For more information on the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse, visit <http://metadata.nbii.gov>.

(Photo: screenshot of the NBII Metadata Clearinghouse)

USGS Microbiology Web Site Debut

USGS scientists across disciplines are using their microbiology expertise to study climate change, fish and wildlife disease, bioremediation, energy, and other national issues. The week of June 29, USGS will reveal the scope of USGS microbiology research with the release of the new Interdisciplinary Microbiology Web site. Research summaries and images, and contact information for scientists, are just some of the site’s assets that will facilitate collaboration between scientists and increase the understanding of USGS microbiology to the public. Goals of the site were developed at the USGS Interdisciplinary Microbiology Workshop and the content, look, and feel built with scientists' feedback. The site will soon be available at , and is made possible by the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) and USGS Microbiology Coordinator Kay Marano Briggs. For more information, contact Kay Marano Briggs, Reston, VA, 703-648-4046 or Bernadette LeMasters, Reston, VA, 703-648-4334)

Image: Paenibacillus thiaminolyticus
Catherine A. Richter,
USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center
Description: Yellow color shows thiamine degradation on an agar plate ofPaenibacillus thiaminolyticus strain 8120.

NBII Helps DoD Keep the Environment Healthy

The Department of Defense (DoD) commitment to protecting and preserving our national security is well-known. What may not be so wellknown is that DoD is also a committed steward of the environment – and the NBII is glad to help DoD maintain that commitment. The most recent example of the NBII-DoD partnership for the environment is a new Web site we host and support called the DoD Threatened and Endangered Species (TES) Document Repository. The site went live over a year ago, with major revisions completed by October 1, 2008. It’s aimed at anyone interested in looking at information DoD has related to its high-priority threatened and endangered species. Repository users include researchers, land managers, policymakers, and the general public. “There’s nothing else like it,” said Mike Frame, NBII Director of Research and Technology. “It’s the only Web site of its kind to offer data and information on threatened and endangered species of greatest interest to DoD. The effort truly demonstrates how a collaborative partnership between agencies can produce outstanding results.” So how did this unique resource come about? DoD utilizes nearly 30 million acres of land as well as substantial waters and air space to conduct missions vital to national security. These areas provide habitat for a great diversity of plants and animals, some of which are found only in areas within DoD stewardship. Consequently, DoD personnel are responsible for managing an incredibly broad range of TES and species at risk. Of these, the repository focuses on 18 key TES (this number will grow in the months ahead). NBII involvement grew out of our work with the Defense Environmental Program, sometimes referred to as Legacy (short for The Legacy Resource Management Program). Legacy supports the conservation and protection of the nation’s natural and cultural heritage, assisting DoD in protecting and enhancing resources while supporting military readiness. Through Legacy funds, the NBII and DoD partner HGL developed a number of improvements beyond the initial version of the DoD TES system. NBII efforts have included overall software development; revising and updating the existing metadata standards; ensuring the system is fully compliant with federal information system Americans with Disabilities Act and National Institute of Standards and Technology security requirements; providing ongoing system maintenance, backup, and system administration technical support; and providing content manager training and user support to the designated DoD federal and contractor staff. The site is significantly leveraging the NBII’s investment in the Oracle Web Center (formerly Plumtree) Portal framework. The site is easy to navigate. Just go to the box at the top left portion of the home page and you’ll see that users can search for repository documents by document type, keyword, species, or stressor (climate change, fire, habitat fragmentation or loss, invasives, military training, and wildlife disease) using simple drop-down menus. The ability to search full-text or via standardized metadata also exists. Clicking on “document type” shows the range of documents available: abstracts, biological opinions, directives, environmental assessments, environmental impact studies, fact sheets, INRMPs (Integrated Natural Resource Management Plans), management plans, memoranda of understanding, profiles, summaries, surveys, and technical reports. Click one of those categories and document names pop up, along with related metadata. Click on the link to open the document itself. To submit a document for inclusion in the repository, send an e-mail to TESRepository@hgl.com and the site administrator will respond with information to access the Input Tool. “The NBII stepped in to help DoD build and create a Web-enabled repository that is available throughout the country,” said Frame. “Through our partnership, DoD is able to use an information infrastructure that’s already paid for by taxpayer dollars. We’re really pleased with that, and we think the site’s visitors will be very pleased with what they find.”

(Image: A broad range of U.S. military bases provide data sets for the DoD TES Document Repository.)

Tricolored Blackbird Portal Provides Data Entry, Access and Sharing Capabilities

The tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), a bird of conservation concern, is nearly endemic to California. More than 95 percent of the world’s population resides in California with additional small numbers of birds in Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Baja California. The males of these very social songbirds are mostly glossy black with a bright red shoulder patch and a prominent white wing bar beneath. These features distinguish the male tricolor from its much more widespread and abundant relative, the red-winged blackbird, which is not colonial, lacks the tricolor’s glossy plumage, and has an orangered shoulder patch with a dull yellow wing bar.
Formerly most abundant in coastal marshes, the tricolor’s freshwater marsh breeding habitats have been reduced by conversion to agriculture and urban spaces. Now the tricolor’s largest breeding colonies are located in agricultural areas and the harvest of the grains used by tricolors often conflicts with breeding activities. The production of entire breeding efforts can be lost if the crops are harvested before the young are able to fly. Programs that provide funding to some affected landowners to delay harvest are in place, but longer-term strategies are needed to conserve the species. The tricolored blackbird was selected in 2005 as a focal species under the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Focal Species Strategy as a result of severe population declines, habitat loss, and species vulnerability. This species represents one of 139 focal species identified in the strategy for which conservation planning and implementation will be undertaken to bring their populations to healthy or sustainable levels. Under the strategy, the Tricolored Blackbird Working Group was formed as part of a voluntary process to conserve the species, with representatives from state and federal agencies, landowners, nonprofit groups, and academia. The working group produced a conservation plan in 2007 that describes four elements believed essential to conserve the species: conservation and management; research and monitoring; data storage and management; and education and outreach. In partnership with the Tricolored Blackbird Working Group, the USFWS, and the University of California-Davis, the NBII provides support for development of the Tricolored Blackbird Portal. This Portal helps meet the goals set out in the Data Storage and Management section of the conservation plan. The Tricolored Blackbird Portal provides access to current documented information related to the species’ life history and conservation actions, as well as access to reports, images, links to tricolors in the news, and descriptions of research and monitoring efforts. The Portal utilizes open-source applications, Drupal as the content-management system, and MySQL as the database back-end to enable the entry and documentation of existing legacy data related to the locations, sizes, nest substrates, and population size estimates of colonies. The 150 volunteer participants in this year’s State-wide Tricolor Survey in California were able to enter the records of their observations via the Portal — the first time online data entry for a survey have been available. The site also utilizes an Application Programming Interface (API) for Google Maps to enable users to locate colonies. Data entered into the Portal are shared with state (California Department of Fish and Game), national (Avian Knowledge Network), and international (Global Biodiversity Information Facility) data-sharing efforts that are also supported by the NBII. “The Portal is a great asset to tricolored blackbird conservation,” said Mike Green, USFWS. Future enhancements to the site include moving from Google Maps to an open-source mapping tool, providing visualization tools to retrieve data, adding data on colony productivity estimates, and additional enhancements as suggested by site users.

(Photo credit: Tricolored Blackbird - Photo by Robert J. Meese)

Metadata Goes Global

To promote the establishment of a World Data Center in Africa, the NBII hosted participants from South Africa and Rwanda in Reston, VA, for two weeks of informatics training. A significant piece of launching a data-oriented infrastructure is the establishment of a metadata program. Metadata is a critical component for not only describing and documenting data sets, but is a significant driver in an organization’s ability to share data efficiently. An “Introduction to Metadata” workshop was presented by Viv Hutchison (USGS-NBII) on the first of three days devoted to the topic of metadata. Participants were introduced to the concept of metadata, its value, the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), and the NBII Biological Data Profile. In addition, participants learned about the history of metadata, how profiles and extensions add to the standard, how to write good metadata records, and how to implement a metadata program in an organization. Finally, the participants spent time creating a metadata record using Metavist software. This hands-on experience will empower the South African and Rwandan participants to create their own metadata records once they return to their offices. On the following two days, fresh with new skills in metadata production, the participants engaged in a “Train the Trainer” course taught by Viv Hutchison (NBII) and Kathy Martinolich (NOAA). The workshop focused on building the skills necessary to teach metadata to audiences of their own. After a day of instruction on how to construct solid lesson plans and presentation skills, the participants were asked to create their own lesson plans and present them to their peers. Each person was allowed 10 minutes. The presentation was then followed up by constructive criticism from the class and the instructors. These metadata workshops are a product of the NBII’s Metadata Program, which takes a broad approach to the collection and production of metadata. The NBII maintains a Metadata Clearinghouse that contains over 46,000 records – all of which use the FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata format, and the majority of which contain the Biological Data Profile (BDP). The BDP was designed by the NBII as a set of extended elements to the FGDC Standard that allow biologists to include information about their research, such as taxonomy, methodology, and analytical tools in their metadata records. The use of the standard is a requirement of federal agencies, thus the need for metadata workshops to teach scientists and data managers how to produce records. Once records are in production, the NBII also offers a quality control service to record creation assistance. The participants from South Africa and Rwanda will have access to all of the tools provided by the NBII Metadata Program as they embark on creating a program of their own. If you are interested in learning more about the NBII Metadata Program or how your organization might engage in some of the activities mentioned in this article, please contact Viv Hutchison or 206-526-6282 x329 for more information.

Protected Areas Database for the United States Now Available

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) NBII Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) have joined forces to design the most collaborative and current protected areas database of our nation (PAD-US). The vision of this group, the PADUS Partnership, is to provide guidance and resources to maintain protected lands data with greater accuracy anddetail than was previously possible. The Partnership defines protected areas as “lands dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity and to other natural, recreational, and cultural uses managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means” and includes the USGS, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Conservation Biology Institute, GreenInfo Network, and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In April 2009, GAP aggregated the first version of the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-Usv1) on behalf of the PAD-US Partnership. These data are required to fulfill GAP’s mission to provide state, regional, and national assessments of the conservation status of native vertebrate species and natural land cover types and to facilitate the application of this information to land management activities. To fulfill the NBII mission to facilitate the widest possible access to and use of biological data and information, GAP worked with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) to link PAD-US to the World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA). In addition, the PADUS database will be submitted annually to the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC.org) for integration into the North American Environmental Atlas. These linkages will facilitate collaboration among conservation organizations and land managers by establishing a consistent understanding of protected lands status whether the focus is global or local. PAD-US is a geodatabase that combines administrative boundaries with attributes of ownership, management, and conservation measures. Available information includes: geographic boundaries of public land ownership and voluntarily provided private conservation lands (e.g., TNC preserves); a combination of land owner, manager, management designation, parcel name, and source of geographic information of each mapped land unit; International Union for Conservation of Nature category ; and GAP Status Codes intended to provide a measurement of management commitment for longterm biodiversity protection.



GAP categorizes protected areas (see PADUS map) as:

• Status Code 1: lands managed solely for biodiversity conservation in perpetuity

• Status Code 2: lands managed primarily for biodiversity conservation with some management (e.g., suppression of wildfire or activities designed to mimic natural disturbances)

• Status Code 3: lands having permanent protection from natural land cover conversion, but are subject to extractive uses (e.g., logging or mining)

• Status Code 4: lands not managed for conservation or for which there is no information

Protected areas are both uniquely and uniformly identified in the geodatabase by standardized parcel names and coded management designations. In addition, a parcel’s contextual setting is maintained through standardized attributes such as “Class” (Federal, Tribal, City, or Private) and “State Name.” Updates in several northwestern states (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and California) are underway in addition to additional outreach and collaboration with data partners. The mission of GAP includes promoting conservation by providing broad geographic information on biological diversity to resource managers, planners, and policy makers who can use the information to make informed decisions. As part of the NBII — a collaborative program to provide increased access to data and information on the nation’s biological resources — GAP data and analytical tools have been used in hundreds of applications, from basic research to comprehensive state wildlife plans, and from education projects in schools to ecoregional assessments of biodiversity. GAP has developed protected areas information since the late 1980s. PAD-US demonstrates the collaborative efforts of the PAD-US Partnership to share data and leverage resources. PAD-US will be continually updated and improved. For more information, see <http://gapanalysis.nbii.gov/PADUS> or contact John Mosesso, Gap Analysis Program Manager.

Efforts Wrap Up on Sage Brush Ecosystem and Sage Grouse Project

Pacific Northwest Information Node

The Cooperative Agreement with Utah State University (USU) that focused on work related to the sage brush ecosystem and sage grouse ended on January 31, 2009. Primary financial support for the agreement came from the Pacific Northwest Information Node. The projects were integrated with work being done by the Great Basin Information Project (GBIP) to achieve the objectives. USU worked across the Great Basin region and provided support for content and map development for the Local Working Group (LWG)Locator and database development for the Livestock Grazing best management practices bibliography in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management. Both the LWG and Grazing Best Management Practices continue to be hosted by NBII’s GBIP. USU also worked directly with the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies to develop maps and other visualization tools (see article on Sage Brush Ecosystems under NBII-Cross Node Collaboration in this issue for more information about this effort).

Northwest Habitat Institute Projects Wraps Up

Pacific Northwest Information Node

The project with the NHI that focused on regional information issues wraps up this spring. NHI is a non-profit scientific and educational organization that promotes the conservation of Pacific Northwest native species and habitats through the development and dissemination of data-rich and verifiable information, maps, and tools; and the restoration and enhancement of native habitats. NHI worked across the region and helped in the development of the Northwest Environmental Data Network (NED) Demonstration Project and getting the Pacific Northwest Habitat Classification Systems Database online. The NBII and NHI will continue to look for additional opportunities to facilitate data delivery in the region.