Highlights for February 21, 2002

I. Key Department/Bureau News

• Report from Second IABIN Council Meeting held in January: National Focal Points and other Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN) participants met in Miami, FL, in January for the Second Meeting of the IABIN Council. Convening for the first time in two years, the Council reviewed the work since its first meeting in December 1999 and discussed plans for the next two years. At the meeting, the World Bank announced that IABIN’s proposal to the Global Environment Fund (GEF) had been “technically cleared,” giving IABIN a place in line for GEF funds as they become available. Douglas Graham, World Bank representative, reported that funds should be available in mid-2002, but that the exact date on which funds would become available and the final amount of funding to be awarded to IABIN was uncertain at this time. The Organization of American States (OAS), which will serve as the Executing Agency for these funds, presented a draft implementation plan to the Council. The Council also finalized wording for a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Clearing-House Mechanism of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), further defining the collaboration between these two multi-national initiatives. The MOC has been forwarded to the CBD Secretariat for their review. Peru, Antigua & Barbuda, and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) were elected to the IABIN Executive Committee (IEC). The full report will be available shortly on the U.S. IABIN web site, www.iabin-us.org, which is hosted by BIO. The complete membership of the IEC, as well as briefing papers, the draft MOC and other reports from the Miami meeting are already available on the site. (Andrea Grosse, Reston, 703/648-4342)

• IABIN Invasives Information Network (I3N) Workshop: Leads from 12 IABIN countries and many of the IABIN Second Council members and guests convened on January 16, 2002, for a workshop on the I3N Project. Country leads gave presentations on their project plans, and the I3N Cataloguer, a software tool developed by the University of California at Davis to support the input of I3N data, was demonstrated and distributed to the leads. The workshop report will soon be available on the U.S. IABIN web site, www.iabin-us.org, which is hosted by BIO. Additional information on the I3N Project is also available on the site. (Andrea Grosse, Reston, 703/648-4342)

• USGS Scientist Assists Prince Willliam County, VA with National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS): Karl Brown, Manager of the USGS / National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping program at the Center for Biological Informatics is providing technical assistance to Julie Flanagan (703-792-7208) of Prince William County in Virginia. That county, and neighboring Fairfax County desire information on the NVCS because they are planning to evaluate the county densification and effects on vegetation. The combined county effort will cover 380 square miles south of Washington, DC. Thus far Mr. Brown has assisted with questions on aerial photography, scale, resolution, sampling design, and biological characterization protocols. The Center for Biological Informatics along with the NPS manages the program; see the program website at: http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/. (Karl Brown, Denver, 303/202-4240).

II. Agency Work on Presidential Initiatives

• USGS to provide Support to the US BioSafety Clearinghouse: The USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) Program will provide technical guidance and support to the US National BioSafety Clearinghouse efforts. USGS will be working with staff from the State Department, EPA, and USDA to support this international effort. It is anticipated that an initial draft of the site and databases will be available by August. (Mike Frame, Reston, 703/648-4164).

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.