FGDC Vegetation SubcommitteeUpdate to Coordination Group

Marianne K. Burke, Ph.DNational Research Program Leader for NEPA and Performance Accountability,

Forest Service Research and Development571-733-7972

mburke@fs.fed.us

September 10, 2013

Coordination Group Meeting

September 4, 2013, v1

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IntroductionThe Mission/Purpose of the Vegetation Subcommittee is: the coordination of terrestrial vegetative data-related activities among Federal agencies and the establishment of a mechanism for the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of terrestrial vegetation data. Members include: 

•Marianne Burke, USFS•Mike Mulligan, USGS•Gene Fults, NRCS•Don Faber-Langendoen, NatureServe•Dave Cleland, USFS•Scott Franklin, ESA•Alexa McKerrow, USGS

Kristin Snow,

NatureServe•Jill Parsons, ESACliff Duke, ESAHarbin Li, USFSRobert Peet,

UNC/ESADave Tart, USFSJohn Dennis, NPSMichelle Cox,

US Navy

•Carol Spurrier, BLM•Greg Reams, USFS•Nate Herold, NOAA•Karl Brown, NPS•Kathy Goodin, NatureServe•Laurel Gorman, USACE•Elizabeth Middleton,

NASA•Patrick Donnelly, FWS

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NGDA Data Themes and Data Sets

The following data themes and datasets fall under the purview of the FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee:

The National Vegetation Classification Standard.

Revised content (types and descriptions) for eight levels of the NVC hierarchy.

VegBank – a permanent archive of the vegetation plot data.

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Recent Meetings

Meeting with Deputy Chief and Associate Deputy Chiefs of Forest Service R&D (June 14, 2014).

The topics discussed at this meeting included: Update on activities of Subcommittee, Panel, working

groups and grants. Plans for Year 5 of the Forest Service Cooperative

Agreement. Succession plan for Ralph Crawford

Some of the outcomes arising from this meeting include:

FS is maintaining its role as champion of the Vegetation Subcommittee and year 5 of the Cooperative Agreement.

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Recent Meetings (continued)

The Strategic Collaborative Science Summit II (July 2013) hosted by the Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units Network.

The ESA Vegetation Classification Panel workshop in Minneapolis, MN (August 6, 2013)

The Vegetation Subcommittee presented an update to the Interagency Land Management Adaptation Group (September 5, 2013).

The Vegetation Subcommittee met approximately monthly during FY 2013.

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Recent Developments/Projects

(Subcommittee Administration)

A new MOU was written to formalize the partnership between federal and non-federal partners.The NVC Implementation plan is being revisedThe Subcommittee Charter was revisedA mapping working group is being created

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Revised Hierarchy Example

Upper

Level 1 – Formation Class Shrubland & Grassland [mesomorphic]

Level 2 – Formation Subclass Temperate & Boreal Shrubland & Grassland

Level 3 - Formation Temperate Grassland & Shrubland

Mid

Level 4 – Division Great Plains Grassland & Shrubland

Level 5 – Macrogroup Tallgrass Prairie Grassland & Shrubland

Level 6 – Group Northern Tallgrass Prairie Grassland

Lower

Level 7 – Alliance Big Bluestem – Indian grass Mesic Grassland

Level 8 – Association Big Bluestem – Indian grass / Gayfeather Grassland

Recent Developments/Projects(Content Maintenance and Dissemination)

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Recent Developments/Projects, (Preparation and submission of proposals for revising

content)

A NSDI cooperative agreements program grant was used to establish an alliance and association level classification for California using the NVC. Focus is on the alliances that are endemic to CA.

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Recent Developments /Projects(Peer review and evaluation of proposals for revising

content)

ESA has an agreement with the USGS to test the peer review processIdentify dataset, propose types, submit plots to VegBank, and manage a peer review processESA Vegetation Classification Panel is managing the reviews of

proposed type concept revisions at the alliance level

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Recent Developments /Projects(Peer review and evaluation of proposals for revising

content)

A peer review pilot project was initiated.ESA Peer Review Board was briefed on the peer reviewed process.Pilot project ‘US National Vegetation Process Testing Peer Review’ underway

Longleaf pine dataset used as case study to identify the process and policies decisions

specific to reviewing proposed changes to the NVC

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Recent Developments /Projects(Peer review and evaluation of proposals for revising

content)

Draft Proposal has been submitted for Peer Review.ESA Panel is refining the process and establishing

policies specific to reviewing proposed changes to the NVC.

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Recent Developments/Projects(Publication of peer review results and incorporation of

changes into the public record)

Planning has begun for publication of the proceedings of the USNVC peer review.

Requirements analysis has been completed

A prototype interface has been developed.

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Recent Developments/Projects(Publication of peer review results and incorporation of

changes into the public record)

The HRWG report for level 1-3 of the USNVC is informally published, and the Subcommittee is working on getting it formally published by FS as a multi-agency document.

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Recent Developments/Projects(Collaborations involving use of NVC)

USFS and NatureServe are developing a key to the USNVC groups and macrogroups for Forest of the Eastern US.

ILMAG is scoping for projects to use NVC.

NPS- USNVC has being used in the Parashant National Monument (BLM), Lake Mead Natural Recreation Area, Grand Canyon.

BLM – has guided their field offices to use the USNVC Macrogroup level in their land use plans.

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Recent Developments/Projects(Outreach and education)

Developed education materials that are available to the public FAQ for NVC users. A Workshop for the National Military Fish and Wildlife

Association - March 2014 (contingent on travel for federal partners).

Web presence FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee site USNVC.org ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification

http://esa.org/vegweb2/ NatureServe Explorer www.natureserve.org

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Next MeetingThe next meeting of the Vegetation subcommittee will be held in September, 2013. It will take place via teleconference .Some of the topics to be discussed at the next meeting include: Status of the revised Charter Status of the MOU Publication of HRWG report. Funding for VegBank Web site revision

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Next StepsIn the coming months, the Vegetation Subcommittee hopes to accomplish/discuss: Finalize MOU Finalize Charter Publish HRWG report Revise the Implementation Plan Research the potential for an interagency

agreement and funding specific to maintaining and revising content, conducting outreach, and building and maintaining the necessary cyber-infrastructure.

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Questions?

Marianne Burke, Forest Service R&DPhone – 571-733-7972

mburke@fs.fed.us