National Biological Information Infrastructure
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NBII Brochure Homepage
BRD and NBII Nationwide
BRD science centers, cooperative research units, and other program offices throughout the United States have begun a long-term effort to prepare their biological data and information holdings for access over the NBII.
Examples of BRD information being made more accessible through the NBII include work being done at the National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin (developing an electronic clearinghouse of wildlife health information); at the Environmental Management Technical Center in Onalaska, Wisconsin (indexing and providing electronic access to 2,500 high-resolution color-infrared photographs of the Upper Mississippi River floodplain taken in 1994); at the BRD Headquarters Office in Reston, Virginia (developing an electronic directory of almost 150 data sets developed through the BRD global climate change research program); at Leetown Science Center in Leetown, West Virginia (coordinating the BRD Northeastern Watersheds/Connecticut River Ecosystem Initiative); at the National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, Louisiana (documenting and serving data from its extensive spatial data holdings); and at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland (developing and serving an electronic database from the original Biological Survey Locator File).
Three BRD libraries are collaborating to provide NBII access to data on their special collections--the Upper Mississippi Science Center, the National Wildlife Health Center, and the John Van Oosten Library of BRD's Great Lakes Science Center.
Other State-level activities include:
BRD and The Nature Conservancy have cooperated in developing an electronic network of home pages for each of the 50 State natural heritage programs. The network is accessible through the NBII and directly at www.heritage.tnc.org. State heritage programs are an excellent source of reliable biological data used by developers, transportation planners, scientists, and managers.
BRD also supported The Nature Conservancy in a pilot project to help NBII users submit electronic requests and retrieve biodiversity data sets from databases maintained by the Montana State Natural Heritage Program. This special project is an extension of the larger cooperative project just described.
BRD has cooperated with the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange (FWIE) to create a directory of State biodiversity databases and information sources for all 50 states. Developed in cooperation with the Organization of Fish and Wildlife Information Managers (OFWIM), a national consortium of State and Federal fish and wildlife data managers, the directory will be available through the NBII.
BRD's Center for Biological Informatics (CBI), Denver, Colorado, provides technical support and management of the NBII home page. CBI works with other programs and activities within BRD directorates and centers as well as with other DOI and Federal agencies, States, international entities, and non-government organizations.
National Atlas Goes Electronic
USGS recently began developing an electronic National Atlas of the United States. The Atlas will feature different sets or layers of geospatial information to portray physical, biological, and socioeconomic features of the United States. The first version of the Atlas is scheduled for release in FY 1998.
As part of our development of the NBII, BRD is taking a lead role in identifying and developing the biological components of the Atlas. We will provide key data layers as well as initiate partnerships with sources inside and outside the Federal sector to secure additional biological data. We are also participating, along with the other USGS divisions, in the development of software tools and technologies that will enhance the product and ensure its usefulness.
