Federal Geographic Data Committee

Vegetation Subcommittee

Ralph Holiday Crawford, Chair

Sustainable Rangelands Roundtable

Boise, Idaho

October 21, 2003

                                                                    The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an interagency committee, organized in 1990 under OMB Circular A-16 that promotes the coordinated use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. The FGDC is composed of representatives from nineteen Cabinet level and independent federal agencies. The Steering Committee sets high-level strategic direction for the FGDC as a whole. The Coordination Group advises on the day-to day business of the FGDC. Staff support for FGDC committees is provided by the FGDC Secretariat staff.

History of OMB Circular A-16

• Originally issued in 1958 to insure surveying and mapping activities be directed toward meeting the needs of Federal and State agencies and the general public, and will be performed expeditiously, without duplication of effort

• Revised in 1967 Section on Responsibility for Coordination

• Revised in 1990 expanded to included surveying, mapping and related spatial data activities

FGDC Membership

• Federal Members (AG, Commerce, Defense, Energy, HHS, HUD, Interior, Justice, State, Transportation, EPA, GSA, Library of Congress, NARA, NASA, NSF, TVA)

• Non-Federal Members (International city/county management association, Intertribal GIS Council , National Association of Counties, National League of Cities, National States Geographic Information Council, Open GIS Consortium, Spatial Technologies Industry Assoc, University Consortium of Geographic Information Science, Western Governors’ Assoc)

                                                                                                                                                                                                  

                             

 

                                                                    The Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) is an interagency committee, organized in 1990 under OMB Circular A-16 that promotes the coordinated use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis. The FGDC is composed of representatives from nineteen Cabinet level and independent federal agencies. The Steering Committee sets high-level strategic direction for the FGDC as a whole. The Coordination Group advises on the day-to day business of the FGDC. Staff support for FGDC committees is provided by the FGDC Secretariat staff. The FGDC subcommittees are organized by data themes. Working groups play a crosscutting role, dealing with issues that span many subcommittees.

•FGDC Secretariat Staff •Image map of FGDC Organization •The FGDC Steering Committee •The FGDC Coordination Group •Subcommittees •Working Groups •FGDC Calendar •NSDI discussion list •Contacting FGDC                

FGDC Activities

• Coordination Group Level

• Vegetation Subcommittee Level

Current FGDC Coordination Group Discussions

• Geospatial One-Stop

• Spatial Data Transfer Standards

• Strategy for the Implementation Plan on Commercial Remote Sensing Policy

• National Spatial Data Infrastructure Interagency Linkage

• Understanding the FGDC Standards Process

Vegetation Subcommittee Update

• History

• Members

• Standards Process

National Vegetation Classification and Information Standards Approved by FGDC

On October 22, 1997, Secretary of the Interior Babbitt, as the Chair of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC), endorsed the Committee's approval of the National Vegetation Classification and Information Standards. This will now be the standard vegetation classification system for use by Federal government agencies and their cooperators. The standard, which has been under development since 1992, is based on the classification system originally developed in 1984 through the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization and Driscoll et al (1984) which were later refined by The Nature Conservancy. The new standard (http://www.fgdc.gov/standards/status/sub2_1.html) has undergone wide public review as part of the FGDC standards approval process. The FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee, which coordinated development of the standard, is also coordinating with the development of the United Nations Environment Programme's Food and Agriculture Organization Land Cover Classification System, to help work toward development of a potential global standard for use in classifying and characterizing land cover. Development of this national vegetation classification standard is an important component in helping to increase sharing and exchange of vegetation-related data among Federal agencies and other partners as part of the NBII and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) federations.

Current Vegetation Subcommittee Members and Contributors

• R. Crawford (Chair)• D. Powell (FS)• L. Bryant (FS)• R. Brohman (FS)• B. Hale (NASS)• D. Thompson (NRCS)• L. Gorman (DOD)• G. Waggoner (USGS)• D. Shaw (EPA)• M. Nyquist (USGS)

• S. Karl (BLM)• E. Middleton (NASA)• D. Tart (FS)• L. Hidinger (ESA)• D. Grossman

(NatureServe)+• J. Thomas (NOAA)• D. Faber-Langendoen+• B. Czech (FWS)• C. English (BIA)

                                Vegetation Classification

Standard Vegetation Subcommittee Federal Geographic Data

Committee June 1997

Federal Geographic Data Committee Department of Agriculture * Department of Commerce * Department

of Defense * Department of Energy Department of Housing and Urban Development * Department of the

Interior * Department of State Department of Transportation * Environmental Protection Agency

Federal Emergency Management Agency * Library of Congress National Aeronautics and Space Administration * National Archives

and Records Administration Tennessee Valley Authority

FGDCNational Vegetation Classification Standard

(example)Physiognomic

Division VegetatedOrder Tree DominatedClass Closed Tree CanopySubclass Evergreen Group Temperate or Subpolar Needle-leavedSubgroupNatural/Semi-naturalFormation Rounded Crowns

FloristicAlliance Pinus taeda Closed Tree Canopy AllianceAssociation Pinus taeda/Symplocos tinctoria-Myrcia cerifera-Vaccinium elliotii

ESA Veg Panel

The need for developing standards at the floristic levels

• Two levels of classification hierarchy based on floristic criteria are introduced conceptually in the FGDC vegetation classification standard.

• No details of nomenclature or methods for delimiting or describing them.

GUIDELINES FOR DESCRIBING ASSOCIATIONS AND ALLIANCES OF THE U.S. NATIONAL

VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION

The Ecological Society of America Vegetation Classification Panel

Michael Jennings, Orie Loucks, David Glenn-Lewin, Robert Peet, Don Faber-Langendoen, Dennis Grossman, Antoni Damman,

Michael Barbour, Robert Pfister, Marilyn Walker, Stephen Talbot, Joan Walker, Gary Hartshorn, Gary Waggoner, Marc Abrams,

Alison Hill, David Roberts, David Tart

FGDC Standards Process

FGDC Steering Committee12 – Endorsement FINAL

CG11 - Approve Standard for Endorsement

SWG10 - Evaluate Responsiveness to Public Comments

Standards Development Group9 - Respond to Public Comments

FGDC Secretariat8 - Coordinate Public Review

FGDC Coordination Group (CG)7 - Approve Standard for Public Review

SWG6 - Review and Evaluate Committee Draft REVIEW

SC/WG5 - Review Working Draft

Standards Development Group4 - Produce Working Draft DRAFT

FGDC Subcommittee or Working Group (SC/WG)

3 - Set Up Project PROJECT

SWG2 - Review Proposal

FGDC Standards Working Group (SWG)1- Develop ProposalPROPOSAL

CUSTODIANSTEPSTAGE

Proposed policy on acknowledgement or endorsement of non-Federal standards

Background:• Under A-16 and EO 12906, standards adopted

through the FGDC process are mandatory for Federal agency use

• OMB Circulars A-16 and A-119 do not define a mechanism for identifying, selecting, and coordinating the adoption of non-Federally developed standards.

• Since common standards promote efficient geographic information collection and exchange, and, it was determined that the FGDC needed a mechanism for recognition of non-Federally authored standards.

Two levels of FGDC recognition – Endorsement – mandatory for use

– Recommendation – the non-federal standard is recognized as a useful standard, but is not deemed to be of such broad applicability that its use should be mandatory.

Proposed policy on acknowledgement or endorsement of non-Federal standards

FGDC Standards Process

• There is no time limit specified for the standards development group to carry out their development and post-public review work.

• On the other hand, the Standards Working Group and Coordination Group have time limits for their work.

Veg Subcommittee Suggestion to ESA Veg Panel

• Conversion and correlations of past vegetation data collected

• Definitions and usage of association and alliance

• Standard versus guidelines and the classifications of vegetation on rangelands

FGDCAgencies ESA NatureServe

Maintenance & Archivalof Veg. Class &

Descriptions

Veg. ClassificationScience

Implementation & Use Strategies (e.g. Veg.

Mapping, etc.)

Education and Outreach

Standards Process Activities

Revise & RefineExisting MOU

Funding to AccomplishVeg. Classification

MOU Goals

Maintenance & Archivalof Veg. Plots Data

Implementation & Use Strategies (e.g. Veg.

Mapping, etc.)

Implementation & Use Strategies (e.g. Veg.

Mapping, etc.)

Veg. ClassificationScience

Veg. ClassificationScience

Call Periodic Meetings of MOU Members

USFS (Agency Lead)Develop ImplementationPlan & Budget for OMB

Develop ImplementationPlan & Budget for OMB

Education and Outreach Education and Outreach Education and Outreach

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