WETLANDS SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE FEDERAL GEOGRAPHIC DATA COMMITTEE

MEETING SUMMARY AND ACTION ITEMS, JULY 19, 2005

**ATTENDEES:** See list at end.

**HANDOUTS:** Agenda, NWI Master Geodatabase Status for the Lower 48
States as of July 14, 2005 (status map), National Wetlands Inventory
(NWI/FWS) homepage (http://wetlands.fws.gov), Draft of Updated Exhibit
(Charter), FGDC FY 2006 Work Plan Draft, Potential tasks for Working
Groups, for discussion July 19, 2005 (comments incorporated); Draft
Template Current Status of Wetland Geospatial Data for the United States
FY 2005 Annual Report of the FGDC, Wetlands Subcommittee.

**SUMMARY AND ACTION ITEMS:**

[Presentations]{.underline}: Welcome by John Cooper, FWS. Wetlands
Subcommittee re-launched after four-year hiatus. Chair Bill Wilen gave
presentations on resources available on the NWI website
(http://wetlands.fws.gov) and information about the FGDC and the
Wetlands Subcommittee. (Presentations available upon request.)
Currently, reports and over 30,000 maps (\~50%) are available online,
though most maps are from 1980's era photography. Want to embrace all
federal and state agencies in building wetlands layer of the NSDI.
**Action:** Agencies should review NWI online resources. For inclusion
on the NWI website, agencies are to send important agency wetland links
and wetlands links for kids or educators, plus any requests to put
additional NWI publications online, to Jo Ann Mills.

[Wetlands Subcommittee Exhibit (Charter)]{.underline}: No comments
received prior to the meeting. Agreed to recommendations: 1) change VII.
to "[Scope of]{.underline} r\[R\]esponsibilities of..." to show list as
range of potential (not required) action, 2) add, (exact text to be
determined) VII. L. Foster technology development to address wetland
mapping needs or gaps in information. **Action:** Jim Smith, NASA, to
assist with wording. **Action:** Bill Wilen to submit to FGDC by August
1 due date.

[FGDC FY 2006 Work Plan:]{.underline} No comments received prior to the
meeting. Group recognized that many tasks are long-term projects and
will not be completed within one year. Agreed that it is too soon in
formation of Subcommittee to lay out what we are going to do until we
know full picture of agencies' needs and priorities. Will not know in
time to meet August 1 FGDC deadline. Agreed on one change to draft, to
add one Action: (exact text to be determined) Determine and address
agencies' highest priorities of actions needed, working from the
attached list of Potential Tasks for Working Groups. (see next item)
**Action:** Bill Wilen to add change and submit to FGDC by August 1 due
date.

[Potential Tasks for Working Groups:]{.underline} Several comments
received and incorporated prior to meeting. Most work of the
Subcommittee will occur in working groups. Discussion of priorities and
how to determine priorities of actions needed. General discussion
covered prioritizing mapping, coordination of funding, use of satellite
technology for monitoring status, tracking for the President's goal,
guidance for analyzing change, and needs for riparian standards.
Margarete Heber stated interest in leading standards working group as
EPA's first priority. Dean Tucker stated NPS's interest in finding
funding partners. James Robb discussed States' need for tiered
organization of data. **Actions:** 1) Agencies to determine their needs
and send in any additions, deletions, or modifications to amended list
(included as ATTACHMENT) to Bill Wilen by July 26. 2) Bill Wilen will
compile list and send to all agencies to priority rank. 3) Agencies will
rank plus indicate interest in leading/participating on working groups
and send to Bill Wilen by August 2. 4) Bill Wilen will combine rankings
and distribute outcome to agencies. 5) Identified priority work groups
will be formed and begin work. **Administration**: Work Groups will
maintain separate email lists to avoid overwhelming Subcommittee
participants.

[FY 2005 Annual Report of the FGDC Wetlands Subcommittee, Current Status
of Wetlands Geospatial Data (template)]{.underline}: No comments
received prior to the meeting. Discussed need for a state-of-the-data
report, to include State holdings. **Action:** Agencies begin to assess
information on wetland geospatial data, including current holdings and
current and future mapping plans, by State, using template as reference
for needs. **Action:** Bill Wilen will send out detailed
instructions/deadlines. FY 2005 Subcommittee report is due to the FGDC
December 31, 2005.

**NEXT MEETING:** Tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 20, 2005,
from 2:00 -- 4:00 pm (E.D.T.), Room 200 A&B, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive,
Arlington, VA 22203 (DHRC: 703-358-2161)

**Administration:** The Summary will be considered to be final five
working days after a meeting if no comments are received and will be
posted on the Wetlands Subcommittee website:
<http://www.nwi.fws.gov/fgdcwet.html>. Attendees of the meeting should
send their additions, deletions, and corrections to this document to Jo
Ann Mills at <joann_mills@fws.gov>. This Summary will be redistributed
if major changes are received prior to posting.

Bill O. Wilen, Chair, Wetlands Subcommittee FGDC

National Wetlands Inventory

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Room 400

Arlington, VA 22203\\

Phone 703-358-2278; Fax 703-358-2278; Office 703-358-2161

  ------------------------------------- ---------------------------------
  **Attendees:\                         **[By Phone]{.underline}**
  [In Person]{.underline}**             

  Bill Wilen, FWS, Chair                Jeff Short, DOE

  Colleen Charles, USGS                 James Robb, State of Indiana

  Steve Gill, NOAA                      Jeanne Christie, ASWM

  Dave LaBranche, DOD                   Galen Scott, NOAA

  Ed Miller, DOD                        Marti McGuire, NOAA, Fisheries

  Palmer Hough, EPA                     Roy Teal, TVA

  Morgan Robertson, EPA                 Jan Awl, TVA

  Margarete Heber, EPA                  Justin Hunteman, TVA

  Mark Sudol, USACE                     Brian Huberty, FWS/NWI Great
                                        Lakes Reg.

  Rick Swanson, USDA, Forest Service    Dean Tucker, NPS

  Jeff Goebel, USDA, NRCS               Mike Hickey, OMB

  Erik Johnston, NACo                   

  Jim Smith, NASA                       

  John Cooper, FWS                      

  Dennis Durbin, DOT                    

  Dave Stout, FWS                       

  Jo Ann Mills, FWS                     

  **Attachment (1)**                    
  ------------------------------------- ---------------------------------

**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.

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

Review Wetlands Standards for possible 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.

Begin development of national system for tracking wetlands conservation
projects similar to the one suggested in *Conserving America's Wetlands:
Implementing the President's Goal.*

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.

Additional thoughts

Create 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.

July 19, 2005