**FGDC FY 2006 WORK PLAN**

**Agency Name** U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

**Subcommittee or Working Group** Wetlands Subcommittee

**Background**

The Wetlands Subcommittee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee has
the responsibilities for the coordination of spatial wetlands data
related activities among Federal agencies. It serves as a mechanism for
the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of spatial
wetlands data financed in whole or in part by Federal funds or used by
Federal agencies.

The Wetlands Subcommittee has been re-launched in July 2005. This annual
work plan will be revised by December 31, 2005, to incorporate FY 2006
interim target dates established by working groups launched under this
initial work plan and other activities identified by the Subcommittee in
its next meeting.

**Objectives**

The FGDC Wetlands Subcommittee was established to promote standards of
accuracy and consistency in spatial wetlands data financed in whole or
in part by Federal funds; to exchange information on technological
improvements for collecting spatial wetlands data; to encourage the
Federal and non-Federal community to identify and adopt standards and
specifications for spatial wetlands data; and to collect and process the
requirements of Federal and non-Federal organizations for spatial
wetlands data.

**Benefits or Justification/Legal Mandate**

Under the Office of Management and Budget Circular A-16, revised August
19, 2002, responsibility to coordinate wetlands data related activities
is assigned to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the
Interior. This Federal government-wide leadership for spatial wetlands
data coordination is carried out under the auspices of the Federal
Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). The Service's pertinent enabling
authority resides in the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986. The
Wetlands Subcommittee enables the Service to coordinate development,
use, sharing, and dissemination of spatial wetlands data required under
Circular A-16. This coordination results in the effective and economical
use and management of spatial data assets in the digital environment for
the benefit of the government and the nation.

**Scope of Work**

Wetland spatial data describes lands transitional between terrestrial
and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the
surface, or the land is covered by shallow water part of the year. The
wetlands layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure also contains
related deepwater and riparian habitats.

**Milestones, Schedule, and Budget**

+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+
| **Action**                   | **Date** | **Lead** | **P    | **Bud |
|                              |          |          | rimary | get** |
|                              |          |          | Agen   |       |
|                              |          |          | cies** |       |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+
| Prepare and submit to the    | 12       | Bill     | All    |       |
| FGDC an FY 2005 annual       | /31/2005 | Wilen,   |        |       |
| report on the quality and    |          | FWS      |        |       |
| quantity of wetlands data    |          |          |        |       |
| available to the nation,     |          |          |        |       |
| subcommittee accomplishments |          |          |        |       |
| to date and future plans.    |          |          |        |       |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+
| Develop a draft FY 2006      | 09       | Bill     | All    |       |
| annual report on the quality | /30/2006 | Wilen,   |        |       |
| and quantity of wetlands     |          | FWS      |        |       |
| data available to the        |          |          |        |       |
| nation, subcommittee         |          |          |        |       |
| accomplishments to date and  |          |          |        |       |
| future plans. (Final report  |          |          |        |       |
| due to FGDC 12/31/2006.)     |          |          |        |       |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+
| Determine and address        | 10       | Bill     | All    |       |
| agencies' highest priorities | /01/2005 | Wilen,   |        |       |
| of actions needed, working   |          | FWS      |        |       |
| from the attached list of    |          |          |        |       |
| Potential Tasks for Working  |          |          |        |       |
| Groups.                      |          |          |        |       |
|                              |          |          |        |       |
| **ATTACHMENT**               |          |          |        |       |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+
| Revise and submit FY 2006    | 12       | Bill     | All    |       |
| Annual Work Plan to FGDC to  | /31/2005 | Wilen,   |        |       |
| reflect determined actions.  |          |          |        |       |
|                              |          | FWS      |        |       |
+------------------------------+----------+----------+--------+-------+

**Funding Sources or Request:** Not applicable at this time.

**Points of Contact, Contact Info, and Area of Responsibility**

Bill O. Wilen

Chair, Wetlands Subcommittee

National Wetlands Inventory

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 400

Arlington, VA 22203

Phone: 703-358-2278

Fax: 703-358-1869

(Secretary: 703-358-2161)

bill_wilen@fws.gov

Ralph Tiner

FWS Alternate Member, Wetlands Subcommittee

Regional Wetlands Coordinator

National Wetlands Inventory

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

300 Westgate Center Drive\
Hadley, MA 01035\
Phone: 413/253-8620

Fax: 413/253-8482

ralph_tiner@fws.gov

Jo Ann Mills

Coordinator, Wetlands Subcommittee

Phone: 703-358-2430, Fax: 703-358-1869

joann_mills@fws.gov

Working Group Leaders: To be determined

ATTACHMENT

**Potential Tasks for Working Groups**

Begin development of priority ranking system for national wetland
mapping needs, including those of federal and state agencies,
conservation organizations, and entities involved in development.
Incorporate user-needs assessment.

Develop national strategic plan for wetland mapping for the nation.

Develop mechanism for cooperation/coordination for funding highest
priority mapping needs.

Review Wetlands Standards for possibilities of adding additional
modifiers to address concerns by federal and state agencies and others
e.g. hydrogeomorphic modifiers.

Create a tiered organization of standards:

1.  Organize tiers so that states with different needs and levels of
    funding can participate at different levels, but still communicate
    the reliability of their data.

2.  Organize tiers so that different areas of a state (rural vs
    developing for example) can be mapped at different levels of the
    hierarchy to maximize benefits and minimize costs. For example we
    may want to use a minimum mapping unit of 1 acre in a rural area,
    and repeat mapping every 10 years, vs. using a quarter acre in a
    developing area and repeat mapping every 5 years.

3.  Also organize tiers so that you have the same level of confidence in
    each component in a given level. Eliminate modifiers that are either
    not used or cannot be reliably identified at any level of the
    hierarchy.

Develop a guidance document on how to analyze, and revise changes to
existing maps. Everyone updating maps or doing status and trends
analyses is wrestling with this issue and if it\'s not addressed, it can
lead to erroneous interpretations, and public relations disasters. It
also feeds back into the kinds of hydrologic modifiers, and other
information that is collected.

Advocate the development of a National Surface Water Map that includes
the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) or State Wetlands data, the
National Hydrographic Dataset (NHD), watershed boundaries and 100 year
flood, floodplain boundaries.

Restart FGDC approval process of Service Riparian Standards as FGDC
national standards.

Organize and launch work group to begin development of national system
for tracking wetlands conservation projects using a shared cross-agency
GIS-based approach similar to the one suggested in *Conserving America's
Wetlands: Implementing the President's Goal.* The data would be made
available through the National Atlas and Geospatial One-Stop.

This is an expanded version of task above. Organize and launch a work
group to explore the feasibility of building a shared cross-agency
GIS-based approach to allow agencies to document and exchange
information on wetland restoration projects, mitigation projects and
permit actions. The data would be made available through the National
Atlas and Geospatial One-Stop.

Develop clearinghouse for online publishing of applications of NWI data.

Investigate the use of satellite technology to monitor the existing
wetlands data to identify areas were wetlands are being gained, lost or
are undergoing change.

Foster technology development to address wetland mapping needs or gaps
in information.

Identify training or educational needs for wetlands geospatial data and
standards.

Consider the creation of a unique wetlands identifier, like the reach
codes. This id needs to remain the same and is unique even if new
wetlands are found, and old wetlands destroyed.