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National Biological Service, Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange to Develop
Electronic Directory of State Databases
National Biological Service Director Ron Pulliam today announced a
cooperative agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange (FWIE) to
develop a directory of state biodiversity databases and information sources.
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 accessible over the Internet, through the
National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII), at
http://www.nbs.gov/nbii/
"This agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange is a key
step in our efforts to work closely with states as partners in developing,
sharing, and applying good biological data and information," noted Dr. Pulliam.
"State agencies have significant and extensive biological databases, often
developed over many years."
Through the agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange and OFWIM
will compile information about biological databases and information maintained
by state fish, wildlife, natural resources and environmental agencies. The
resulting directory will provide valuable information on the contents and
subject matter of each database or information product, institutional and
contact information about the source agency, and the status of the electronic
accessibility of the data or information. The directory will be available on-
line over the Internet and will include direct "hot links" to agencies or
organizations which already have data and information products through the
Internet.
An important objective of this effort is for FWIE and NBS to identify
further measures needed to provide increased electronic access to biological
data and information products of state natural resources agencies.
The National Biological Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior
works with others to provide the scientific understanding and technologies
needed to support the sound management and conservation of the nation's
biological resources. The National Biological Information Infrastructure is an
NBS initiative to foster the development of a distributed electronic network of
biological data and information maintained by a variety of federal and state
government agencies, universities, museums, libraries, and private
organizations.
The Fish and Wildlife Information Exchange, which is a unit within the
Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences Department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University, works to make state fish and wildlife data and
information products more available to the public and to assist state natural
resources agencies in managing and using their biological databases.
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