Strategic Plan for the USGS

National Biological

Information Infrastructure

July 2005

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Strategic Plan for the 

USGS National Biological 

Information Infrastructure 

(NBII)

Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

1

Strategic Plan for the USGS 

National Biological

Information Infrastructure 

(NBII)

Executive Summary

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Strategic Plan 

for the National Biological Information Infrastructure 

(NBII) for 2003 to 2008 reflects a renewed commitment 

to the USGS ́s role as the nation’s principal natural 

sciences and information agency. USGS and many 

other organizations from all sectors of society conduct 

research, monitoring, and assessments to contribute 

to our understanding of the natural world – land, 

water, and biological resources. In order for the data 

and information created through these activities to be 

used by scientists, managers, planners, and citizens to 

understand, respond to, and plan for changes in our 

environment, they must be easily accessible in a useable 

form. The NBII seeks to make such data and information 

available, and to provide the tools through which 

decision-makers may interact with them. This Strategic 

Plan discusses the USGS ́ goals for the NBII and the 

strategies that will be used to achieve them. It reflects 

the high priority the USGS places on meeting customer 

needs for reliable and impartial information. 

Within the USGS Strategic Plan, the Environment 

and Natural Resources goal emphasizes delivery of 

data and information in ways that provide decisionmakers a better understanding of current environmental 

conditions, develop predictions about the future, and 

provide options for adopting a course of action or 

response to these conditions (decision support systems 

and other data interpretation tools). The NBII responds 

directly to this goal by providing a large, distributed 

yet interconnected network of people, technologies, 

standards, data, and organizations that together form 

a federation. The goals of this federation are aimed 

at optimizing the nation’s investment in research and 

monitoring activities through greater accessibility to 

the results of these activities. The multi-sector nature 

of NBII partnerships, with each partner contributing 

expertise, data, equipment, facilities and funding, ensures 

that the benefits derived from the use of appropriated 

funds are multiplied through leveraging of these valuable 

in-kind resources and results in a greater return on USGS’ 

investment in the NBII. In addition, the participation 

of more than 200 partners provides a large pool of 

experience from which to draw “best practices” to be 

incorporated into the network’s ongoing development to 

ensure efficient and effective management of data and 

information throughout its life cycle.

Development of this Strategic Plan included user, 

partner, and stakeholder involvement through focus 

groups, conferences, feedback forms, and stakeholder 

meetings. Written review comments were solicited and 

received from experts in the USGS, Department of the 

Interior (DOI), and other federal and state agencies, 

private corporations, the university community, and 

environmental and other non-government organizations 

(NGOs).

This Strategic Plan is a concise guide for achieving 

USGS goals for the NBII through the development of a 

vast array of digital environmental and natural resources 

data and information products that are easy to access, 

apply, and integrate into analytical and decision-making 

activities while retaining their quality and integrity. The 

strategies for achieving these goals, detailed herein, are:

• Continue strong national leadership of the NBII 

through the USGS.

• Implement and maintain three advanced nodes.

• Implement and maintain regional nodes to cover 

the entire country to facilitate local stakeholder 

involvement and participation, ensuring that their 

information needs are met.

• Provide national coordination for overarching 

science issues through thematic nodes.

• Leverage resources through partnerships.

• Support biological informatics research and 

development.

• Provide outreach, training, and technical support to 

NBII users.

• Invest in pilot projects in high priority emerging 

issues.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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2

 National Research Council, Future Roles and Opportunities for the U.S. 

Geological Survey, (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2001), p. 

79.

Who We Are and How We Serve You

The National Research Council (NRC) reported in 1993, 

“There is wide agreement on the urgent need to organize 

existing biological information and make it more readily 

available and to coordinate future data collection and 

exchange.”1

The NBII grew from two key recommendations 

articulated in that NRC report: 1) initiate a 

federation of data resources from many diverse 

organizations using technology to make scientific 

data and information more easily accessible to those 

who need it, and 2) acknowledge and act on the 

fact that government data and information are not 

solely sufficient for the informed creation of future 

environmental policies for the United States. Through 

active partnerships between the NBII and organizations 

in all sectors of society – public and private, non-profit 

and commercial, specialized and general – the USGS 

integrates industry standard information management 

and computer science principles into the development 

of applications for the biological sciences community 

that improve knowledge diffusion and promote 

scientific advancement.

In response to the need for scientific information, 

the NBII provides a framework for making this vast 

storehouse of biological information accessible. It also 

provides the tools for analyzing and synthesizing data 

quickly and efficiently so that the knowledge resulting 

from scientific research can be useful to a wide audience 

and can be brought to bear on decisions, issues, and 

policies that affect the natural resource base of the 

nation. The NBII links biological databases, information 

products, and analytical tools maintained by partners 

from all sectors including federal, state, local, and tribal 

government agencies; academic institutions; NGOs; 

international agencies and initiatives; and private 

industry. The NBII and its partners engage in applied 

information science research to develop state-of-theart technologies and methodologies for data collection 

and analysis, data mining and access, modeling, 

simulation, forecasting, interpretation, and visualization 

of biological data and information (see Figure 1). 

Through these capabilities, the NBII increases the 

return on investment in scientific research by ensuring 

that the resulting knowledge is accessible worldwide 

and is available to enhance our ability to understand the 

nation’s living resources. 

In 2001, the NRC affirmed the NBII’s progress 

in achieving the objective of organizing existing 

information and making it available: “By developing 

a national approach for using the Internet to distribute 

biological information – the National Biological 

Information Infrastructure – the USGS has been at the 

forefront of these efforts and is playing a key role in 

encouraging other nations to develop similar, linked 

capabilities.”2

In accordance with the vision articulated by 

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton for effective 

Interior program management, the USGS manages 

programs including the NBII by applying the “4 C’s”: 

Conservation through Cooperation, Consultation, and 

Communication.

Within the NBII, application of the 4 C’s is achieved 

by conducting business according to the following 

guidelines:

• Collaboration – Value the contributions of our 

partners and recognize that the NBII is built in 

the spirit of multi-sector cooperation.

• Inclusiveness – Work constructively with a 

variety of federal, state, local, international, 

academic, non-government, and private partners 

to add useful data, and develop and implement 

products and services that will benefit all users.

• Integrity – Maintain professionalism in our 

partnerships and in the development and delivery 

of products and services. Treat partners and users 

with respect.

• Quality – Affirm a commitment to data quality 

and an infrastructure that ensures data integrity.

• Technological Excellence – Produce and provide 

the best possible state-of-the-art tools and 

technologies needed by our partners.

• Responsiveness – Demonstrate an awareness of 

the specific needs of users and partners. Seek to 

serve those needs as thoroughly and effectively 

as possible, providing all users efficient access to 

information in its most useful form.

• Flexibility – Emphasize innovation and 

responsiveness in approaches to service and in 

1

 National Research Council, A Biological Survey for the Nation, 

(Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1993), p. 12.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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Partners, Stakeholders, and Users

Content Examples

NBII Value Added

Dissemination Methods

Local State

Industry

Federal

Tribal

Academia

NGOs

International

General Biological Web Resources

Species and Specimen Data 

GIS Data Monitoring Data

Imagery

Natural Science Collections Maps

Metadata

Training

QA/QC

Data Manipulation Applications

Tools and Models

Standards

my.nbii.gov Portal

Publications

Meetings

www.nbii.gov Web 

Figure 1. Through the NBII, the USGS collects and organizes biological information from partners, adds 

value, and provides information products and services back to these users to meet their needs.

the development of technically advanced and 

adaptable information products, services, and 

partnerships. 

• Attribution – Ownership and control of 

information and data available through the NBII 

remains with the data provider, intellectual 

property rights are respected, and source 

attribution and standardization are required 

whenever data or information of others is used.

Adhering to these principles and values helps to ensure 

integrity, excellence, and the ultimate success of USGS 

efforts to realize the biological community’s vision for 

the NBII.

Why We Are Here: Vision, Mission, and 

Strategic Direction

Vision

The NBII will be a fully digital, interactive, distributed 

system for accessing integrated biological and 

ecological information. This user-friendly Web-based 

system provides natural science data and information 

that are scientifically reliable to the public. 

During the period from 2003 through 2008, the USGS 

will maximize the current resources of the NBII to 

respond to priority partner needs and where significant 

contributions from partner organizations are most 

likely to address critical issues such as invasive 

species and emerging diseases.

Mission

The USGS NBII provides the nation with a mechanism 

for accessing the vast amount of existing biological 

and natural resources data, information products, and 

analytical tools that support and enhance science-based 

decision-making. It is the cornerstone for the gathering 

and efficient transfer of research and monitoring 

information from all sectors of the global biological 

community to those who make decisions regarding the 

study, use, and conservation of natural resources.

What We Expect To Accomplish

Data Sharing

One of the long-term goals of the USGS Strategic 

Plan is to “ensure the continued availability of longterm environmental and natural resource information 

and systematic analysis and investigations needed by 

customers, ...for informed decision-making about natural 

systems.” 

Through the NBII, the USGS has begun making 

the nation’s biological data and information 

accessible through the Web, so that research data 

and information can be readily identified, accessed, 

and applied to help solve natural resource problems. 

In recent years, USGS planning activities have 

increasingly recognized and focused on the value of 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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its information assets, the role the USGS should play 

in natural science information, and the importance 

of accessibility and usability of natural science 

information for its customers who need readily 

available and integrated biological information.

The NBII is an integral part of USGS’ overall 

information services, functioning as the biological 

component in the range of natural sciences information 

services. NBII goals and strategies are aligned with 

those of the USGS, and serve as a model for the 

direction in which the USGS is moving. By developing 

a national approach for using the Internet to distribute 

natural science information, the USGS has been in 

the forefront providing credible and readily accessible 

information, and encouraging other nations to develop 

similar, linked capabilities.

The NBII supports USGS’ data and information 

sharing goal by:

• Integrating with the National Map and other 

geospatial information systems,

• Promoting National Spatial Data Infrastructure/

Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) 

standards for metadata through development 

of the Biological Profile (an extension of the 

standard), training and support programs in 

use of the standard, and data entry software to 

facilitate the creation of metadata,

• Developing a vocabulary for consistent access to 

the nation’s biological information,

• Incorporating the USGS and other partner 

biological data sets into the NBII Metadata 

Clearinghouse, and

• Maintaining consistency with the USGS 

Enterprise Architecture, Enterprise Web, and 

Enterprise GIS.

National Objectives

National objectives for natural resource management 

were clearly articulated by President Bush: “All of us 

have a responsibility to be stewards of our land. When 

we use the land, we must do so wisely and responsibly, 

balancing the needs of the environment with the best 

interests of those who live and work on the land.”3 To 

meet the President’s mandate, we must act responsibly 

to manage the data and information generated through 

natural science research, development, and management 

in order to ensure that past efforts yield the answers to 

present and future questions. This requires coordination 

and integration of those data and information, according 

to common standards for describing, disseminating, and 

using them efficiently. These objectives that underpin 

the NBII Strategic Plan step down from the DOI 

Strategic Plan.

USGS personnel, including NBII Program staff, 

stay abreast of and participate in framing the natural 

science priorities of the research and management 

communities. These priorities are then reflected in 

the ongoing development of the NBII as guidance for 

the formation of thematic or regional node projects to 

address information needs on critical resource issues. 

Published documents that lay out the framework for 

addressing national issues and provide guidance for 

NBII development and priority setting include:

• Conservation Biology: Research Agenda for the 

Next Decade (Society for Conservation Biology, 

2001),

• Ecological Forecasting: Agenda for the Future 

(CENR Subcommittee on Ecological Systems, 

2001),

• Monitoring Ecosystems (Island Press, 2003),

• Our Common Journey: A Transition Toward 

Sustainability (NRC, 1999),

• Precious Heritage – The Status of Biodiversity in 

the United States (The Nature Conservancy and 

NatureServe, 2000),

• State of the Nation’s Ecosystems (Heinz Center, 

2002), and

• Systematics Agenda 2000: Charting the 

Biosphere (American Museum of Natural History 

and the New York Botanical Gardens, 2000).

NBII priorities also reflect USGS priorities, as 

documented in:

• Status and Trends of the Nation’s Biological 

Resources (USGS, 1998),

• USGS Future Science Directions, and

• USGS 5-year Strategic Program Plans.

The USGS seeks to address environmental, biological, 

and natural resource information priorities by guiding 

the NBII with the following national-level objectives: 3

 G. Bush, January 11, 2002, “President Signs Bill to Clean 

Urban Brownfields,” <http://www.georgebush.com/Environment/

read.aspx?ID=1415>. Accessed February 4, 2004.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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• Entering into partnerships with collaborators 

who produce high-quality scientific information, 

as well as partnerships with users of scientific 

information to ensure the relevance and 

application of the information to real problems 

(“Building Knowledge Through Partnerships” 

 is the NBII motto),

• Leading the development and application of 

technologies needed to synthesize, analyze, 

and disseminate biological and ecological 

information,

• Providing USGS Science Centers and others 

with the information technologies needed to 

enhance scientific understanding and support 

the sound management and conservation of our 

nation’s biological resources,

• Developing the ability and resources to 

transfer the information gained in research and 

monitoring to resource managers and others 

concerned with the study, use, and conservation 

of the nation’s resources,

• Providing reliable scientific information to the 

public, while recognizing a special obligation 

to serve the biological information needs of the 

DOI bureaus, and

• Creating a greater awareness of the NBII and its 

capabilities through outreach and training. 

International Objectives

Biological resource issues cross many political 

boundaries and, therefore, must be addressed at 

regional, hemispheric, or global levels. Organisms 

including disease vectors and invasive species, can 

be transported anywhere in the world within 24 

hours. Invasive species, for example, exist in all 

U.S. ecosystems. They pose potential threats to the 

integrity of our nation’s landscapes and biodiversity, 

and are estimated to cost more than $100 billion per 

year. Information management efforts in this area are 

performed cooperatively with the National Institute 

of Invasive Species Science at the USGS Fort Collins 

Science Center. Migratory bird species cross country 

borders and even continents. One nation’s actions 

in addressing migratory issues may impact another 

nation’s resources. The NBII Bird Conservation Node 

works in partnership with the USGS Patuxent Wildlife 

Research Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service to coordinate information management 

activities related to migratory bird science and 

management. 

The United States has made commitments to participate 

in a number of biodiversity network initiatives that 

seek to facilitate the exchange of biological data 

and information among partners worldwide. These 

initiatives include the Global Biodiversity Information 

Facility (GBIF), the Inter-American Biodiversity 

Information Network (IABIN), the North American 

Biodiversity Information Network (NABIN), and the 

Clearing-house Mechanism (CHM) of the Convention 

on Biological Diversity, the NATO Information 

Management Committee (IMC), among others. 

The NBII represents the U.S. contribution to these 

initiatives, and the NBII Program Office at USGS has 

been officially designated by the State Department as a 

U.S. focal point for GBIF, IABIN, and the CHM. 

Acknowledging these responsibilities, as well as global 

biodiversity concerns, NBII international objectives 

build on its national objectives and include: 

• Making biological data freely and quickly 

available to a broad variety of users around 

the world, facilitating global access to U.S. 

information resources and U.S. access to global 

information resources,

• Participating in the development and promulgation 

of common standards and protocols to facilitate 

the exchange of information across political, 

linguistic, and institutional boundaries, and

• Emphasizing respect for intellectual property 

rights by advocating the principle that ownership 

and control of these data remain with their 

sources, who have designated all such nonsensitive data as being available for free public 

access. 

Recently, the NBII was evaluated by the International 

Council of Scientific Unions and designated as the 

World Data Center (WDC) for Biodiversity and 

Ecology in October 2002. The NBII is the first and only 

biology/ecology data center of the approximately 50 

WDCs worldwide, 14 of which are in the United States.

Through the NBII, USGS provides leadership for the 

development of regional, hemispheric, and global 

biodiversity information networks and works to 

obtain funding for these networks and initiatives. For 

example, in response to proposals developed by the 

NBII, the World Bank has awarded over $1 million 

toward the implementation of IABIN, and another 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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proposal seeking an additional $5–10 million is in 

preparation. The NBII has also received funding 

from the Department of State to develop a biosafety 

clearinghouse mechanism that is related to the 

Convention on Biological Diversity. The Organization 

of American States (OAS) is providing funding for a 

metadata project.

Strategic Direction: The Development of

NBII Nodes – What They Are; What They Do

NBII nodes are focal points through which systemwide information and services are made available. 

Nodes comprise computer equipment and software, a 

network of partners, personnel, data and information, 

catalogs and tools, and other functional capabilities that 

allow users to efficiently locate, manipulate, and use 

data from diverse sources worldwide. Nodes provide 

users with the capability to maximize the value of 

previously collected data by making it accessible and 

by providing key support functions. These functions 

include analytical tools, secure sites for scientific 

collaboration, and new processes for locating and 

utilizing large, disparate data sets.

Each node provides its own unique focus while 

integrating into the national context. Each node must 

also provide a minimum level of service and support to 

meet national objectives. 

A fully functional NBII node will provide:

• Content delivery – An NBII node must provide 

rich content with high informational value for the 

targeted user community; content should include 

downloadable data such as the time sensitive 

results of invasive species monitoring, as well as 

other types of information. In the NBII context, 

this is closely related to ...

• Data warehousing – The system provides data 

from many diverse sources in order to present 

integrated information that is as complete and 

coherent as possible. The warehouse supports 

decision-making with up-to-date information at 

any given time. Warehoused data are enhanced 

through ...

• Data mining – Special software that continually 

searches content to spot trends and previously 

unknown (or not obvious) relationships among 

data. This includes data exploration tools 

to identify areas potentially worth mining. 

Regardless of observed trends, users have 

unique requirements for the data depending upon 

questions they are trying to answer. To assist 

users, the NBII system must provide ...

• Analysis and synthesis tools – These tools assist 

users in combining data from disparate sources 

into a single result. For example, users may wish 

to view bird migration data on a map, along with 

locations of wildlife refuges. Such a tool allows 

the two data sets (plus many others) to exist as 

layers that users may turn “on” or “off” depending 

upon their needs. Other examples of an analysis 

and synthesis tool might be a decision support 

system, or modeling or visualization tools. But to 

analyze or synthesize data effectively, users must 

be able to rely on the tools working properly in 

their own computing environment. To ensure this, 

the NBII provides ...

• Technical support – This ensures that users are 

able to interact effectively with the NBII, tools, 

and its content. To provide this support, the NBII 

taps into the expertise of partners in addition to 

USGS resources. Users may request technical 

support by phone, e-mail, letter, or in person. 

When users attempt to combine data from 

disparate sources, proper functioning of the tool 

is not the only critical factor. Data must also be 

calibrated in some fashion so as not to lead to 

erroneous conclusions. This ability to combine 

data effectively is called ...

• Data interoperability – The ability to share 

and combine data from different sources, 

with software tools to automatically convert 

data features such as scale to make the 

data compatible, increases their usefulness. 

Interoperability is also enhanced through 

the development and use of a controlled 

vocabulary for taxonomy. The Integrated 

Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), a 

part of the NBII, is supported by the USGS, 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the 

Smithsonian Institution, the National Oceanic 

and Atmospheric Administration, the United 

States Department of Agriculture, DOI, NASA, 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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and many others. Sometimes data sets contain 

the information a user wishes to explore (i.e., 

species population and range) but not in the way 

the user needs. Combining data sets that have not 

been calibrated to one another is like trying to 

match up the borders of maps at different scales. 

At times, more information may be needed from 

the original collector data collector. At these 

times, or when any other interested members of a 

discipline or community find it useful to contact 

one another, the NBII provides ...

• Collaboration capabilities – This virtual 

capability provides a mechanism for online 

communities of interest – those interested in 

similar topics – to find and communicate with 

each other through online discussions, exchange 

documents, share task lists, and contribute 

to group or private calendars, all in a secure, 

password protected digital setting. Users may 

request this capability through the NBII Portal 

at <my.nbii.gov>. Users of the Portal or of other 

NBII provided tools also may request ...

• Training and education – Available upon request 

for topics such as the use of tools, the NBII 

Portal, the creation of compliant metadata, and 

the use of metadata creation software. Selected 

NBII nodes also engage in other training and 

education projects, such as the development of a 

biological informatics curriculum.

The NBII has established three types of nodes that are 

interconnected, mutually supportive, and overlap to an 

efficient degree in topical focus areas because biological 

and environmental issues recognize no political 

boundaries, and no single organization houses all of the 

relevant data and information. Node types are regional, 

thematic, and infrastructure. 

Regional Nodes

Regional nodes focus on and provide services within 

a particular geographic area of the country. Within a 

region, activities address broad biological themes as 

well as issues that are uniquely regional. The focus 

areas of a regional node are based on an assessment 

by the local (regional) partners to determine the 

biological and natural resource challenges that are 

most critical to that particular geographic area. For 

example, the initial focus in the Pacific Northwest 

has been forestry. As resources for this node grow, the 

focus will expand to include other regionally important 

topics such as fire, anadromous fish, and sagebrush 

ecosystems. This is quite different from the initial focus 

in the Northeast, which will be urban biodiversity. 

Regional nodes are encouraged to be flexible and work 

together across node boundaries.

Regional nodes, which together cover the entire nation, 

have been delineated based on characteristics such 

as ecological uniformity, shared regional biological 

issues, and availability of high quality biological and 

information science capabilities, data, and expertise 

within the region. Nine of these regional nodes have 

been initiated thus far. This Strategic Plan maps the 

course for the growth of the network to ensure national 

coverage of priority biological resource challenges, and 

for achieving full functionality in all of the nodes. A 

map of the regional nodes is shown on page 12.

Thematic Nodes

In addition to regional nodes, USGS has instituted 

thematic nodes within the NBII. A thematic node is 

created to provide national coordination for issues 

that are pervasive in all or many regions, and have a 

high level of importance to the nation. This ensures 

inter-regional cooperation and avoids duplication of 

effort on specific themes. All of the current thematic 

nodes were selected for national level focus due to 

their importance and high priority within DOI and 

the states. These themes include Invasive Species, 

Bird Conservation, Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, 

Wildlife Disease (including West Nile Virus and 

Chronic Wasting Disease), and Amphibians. These 

themes also are considered to be highly critical to 

other federal agencies, NGOs, and the private sector. 

This allows the USGS to leverage information, 

expertise, and support available from partners across 

the country.

This Strategic Plan describes the potential for creation 

of new thematic nodes over time, as well as charting 

thematic node growth toward full functionality, just 

as with regional nodes. New thematic nodes are being 

planned based on emerging priorities expressed by 

DOI and other organizations, as well as in national 

framework documents that highlight the need for 

concentrated biological research and information 

management efforts. Updates to this Strategic Plan 

will reflect new and changing thematic priorities as 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

8

they emerge. If node utility becomes limited, it will be 

migrated into another existing node.

Infrastructure Nodes

Infrastructure nodes provide the foundation of the 

system. Infrastructure nodes are vitally important 

for achieving the mission of the NBII and for the 

efficient functioning and security of all nodes within 

the network. They include the computer hardware, 

software, systems, tool suites, and technical and 

training support that underlie the entire national 

network. The work and research performed within 

the infrastructure nodes ensures that all nodes in the 

network use the same metadata development tools 

and platforms, as well as Web site design features. It 

is the infrastructure nodes that create the standards 

and operating protocols that enable individual nodes 

to manage data efficiently. They provide a vast array 

of services to NBII users and seamlessly connect each 

node to the overall network so that the NBII functions 

as a unit. For this purpose, USGS established two 

infrastructure nodes: 1) Knowledge Integration, and 2) 

Network Standards and Technology.

Goals and Strategies

Goals for the NBII are to:

• Develop the framework to support knowledge 

discovery and creation for the nation’s biological 

and ecological resources.

• Create an integrated library of biological 

knowledge by systematically discovering, 

acquiring, organizing, storing, updating, and 

making available scientific data and information 

from diverse sources. Ensure that this library 

responds to the information needs of land and 

resource managers and other stakeholders and 

users.

• Lead the development, selection, and 

distribution of tools and standards necessary to 

facilitate system-wide interoperability and allow 

meaningful interactions with scientific data and 

information.

• Empower NBII users by creating an awareness 

of the NBII and its capabilities and providing 

support to enable users to directly apply NBII 

products and services within their own areas of 

concern.

Responding to critical challenges facing resource 

management agencies, public and private decisionmakers, researchers, and others who are involved in 

the care and use of our environment requires access to 

high quality data and information. As new challenges 

are identified, new data and information are created, 

which must be effectively managed for immediate 

access. Add to that the legacy data and information 

held by many organizations, and the challenge of 

effectively managing these data and information 

reaches nearly overwhelming proportions.

In order to deal effectively with the sheer volume of 

data and information relevant to the NBII’s scope and 

mission, the USGS develops and applies strategies 

to maximize the impact of informatics efforts and to 

ensure the availability of critical natural resource data 

and information. In the next five years, the USGS 

intends to maximize the utility of the resources of 

the NBII, fully leveraging the resources of partners 

wherever possible, to address such critical national 

issues as invasive species and human/wildlife diseases.

The NBII adheres to USGS strategies for achieving its 

scientific leadership goal. This is implemented by: 1) 

taking advantage of resident expertise through regular 

consultation with the USGS Geographic Information 

Office staff and Biological Research and Monitoring 

Programs; 2) focusing on customers, partners, and 

stakeholders, who are key users of environment and 

natural resources information, such as federal, state, 

and local managers and scientists; and 3) improving 

the efficiency of systems that deliver environmental 

and natural resources data and information. This is 

achieved by fostering a programmatic culture within 

the NBII that is flexible and responsive to the user 

community. To do this, the USGS endeavors to 

remove barriers to resource sharing and increase the 

use of cooperative agreements and partnerships.

In the next five years, NBII personnel will ensure that 

the program:

• Provides data and information on regional 

biological resource issues for the entire nation,

• Coordinates data and information strategies at 

a national level for biological issues of national 

concern,

• Plays a key role in the global development, 

adoption, and implementation of data and 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

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information standards that enhance delivery and 

use, and

• Ensures that users can meaningfully interact 

with data and information through the provision 

of tools, technical support, training, and 

interoperability.

Priorities for activities/projects within nodes are 

established through a detailed proposal development 

and review process that includes input and peer 

reviews by regional stakeholders. Node teams in the 

field determine the scope and priority of biological 

information needs for the region or theme. This 

is accomplished by working with stakeholders to 

perform an initial inventory and assessment of 

regional thematic data resources, expertise, and 

biological issues. From this inventory, projects are 

designed and described in a proposal submitted to the 

NBII Steering Team. The Steering Team, through an 

iterative review process, evaluates proposals to assure 

consistency with USGS and NBII goals for the node, 

and with stakeholder-driven priorities for the region.

Once approved, projects are funded, implemented, 

and monitored. Node managers are key to this process 

by assuring the operational functionality of the node 

and the timely and successful completion of projects. 

Node teams measure and report progress through node 

manager meetings and in a written annual report to 

the Steering Team (see Strategy 1).

Application of these overall USGS strategic 

directions to the NBII result in the following specific 

programmatic strategies:

Strategy 1. PROVIDE STRONG NATIONAL 

COORDINATION AND LEADERSHIP.

The USGS is responsible for the administration 

and management of the NBII. In order to preserve 

an appropriate balance across the NBII’s widely 

distributed, partner-based federation, strong 

national coordination and leadership are required. 

This national leadership is provided through a 

governance structure that is led by the NBII Program 

Office. This ensures strong national oversight and 

direction, informed by the continuous participation of 

stakeholders.

Figure 2 (page 10) depicts the NBII’s national 

management structure. The elements of this structure 

are:

USGS NBII Program Office: The Program Office 

serves as the instrument for program implementation, 

action, and change. Office staff maintain continuous 

liaison with guiding and priority setting bodies such as 

the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), 

other USGS and DOI organizations, and partner and 

stakeholder organizations ensuring that communication 

with each is factored into future activities, products, 

and deliverables. The Office implements policies and 

strategies through a Steering Team, which comprises 

a board of senior USGS managers. National Program 

Office responsibilities include the following:

Operational activity monitoring and 

assessment.

The Program Office assigns a USGS manager 

to each node in the NBII network. The Steering 

Team continuously interacts with node teams 

through the node managers. Node managers 

function as the primary point of contact for 

the principal investigator(s) of each node, who 

oversee projects undertaken by the node. Node 

managers coordinate and monitor node projects, 

and maintain liaison between the node and the 

Program Office, as well as with other node 

managers to ensure network-wide coordination. 

In addition, node managers are required to 

establish review panels of regional/national 

experts and partners to review each proposal 

based on established evaluation criteria.

Evaluation and review.

 The Steering Team reviews, advises on, and 

ultimately approves (or rejects) all projects 

proposed by nodes. This process ensures that 

field activities remain on target with national 

goals and objectives. The Team also monitors 

the progress of these activities for cost, 

schedule, and performance, as well as their use, 

value, and benefit.

 To ensure that the NBII continues to meet the 

needs of its users and to make appropriate 

progress toward its stated goals, the Program 

is reviewed every five years by an independent 

panel. The next review is scheduled for 2005. 

The Program review performs the following 

functions:

 • Assess accomplishments to evaluate the 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

10

 success in meeting existing Program goals and 

 objectives.

 • Determine the significance and relevance of the 

 biological informatics work being performed 

 by the Program.

 • Enhance communication and collaboration 

 among Program participants.

 • Facilitate the development of goals, objectives, 

 and priorities for future work.

 • Provide input into the annual updates of the 

 NBII Strategic Plan.

Policy formulation and implementation.

 The Steering Team establishes and implements 

program specific policies that address important 

topics such as data quality, valuation of leveraged 

resources, and network security. It also ensures 

adherence to USGS and DOI overall policies.

Program and budget accountability.

 The Program Office develops and implements 

metrics and engages in performance 

measurement, in compliance with DOI and USGS 

direction. As part of this accountability process, 

the Program Office ensures that all technical 

and regulatory requirements are met. Direct 

cost and schedule accountability for the NBII 

results in more tightly controlled and productive 

expenditures. Further, the NBII is subject to 

rigorous program review requirements established 

by the USGS.

National level projects and partnerships.

 The NBII Program Office manages and 

coordinates efforts that require national oversight 

or have enterprise-wide implications, including 

activities (e.g., infrastructure and thematic nodes, 

and biological informatics research), projects 

(e.g., prototype or proof-of-concept process 

development), and national-level partnerships 

(e.g., International Association of Fish and 

Wildlife Agencies [IAFWA], U.S. Fish and 

Figure 2. The NBII is managed by the USGS NBII Program Office with input from partners, advisors, and 

the user community.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

11

4

 <http://www.nbii.gov/about/partner/bioeco/nbiiframework.html>

Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and 

NatureServe).

Standards and infrastructure.

 Through participation in standards-setting 

bodies, such as the International Standards 

Organization and the National Information 

Standards Organization, Program Office staff 

represent USGS and engage in the development 

and/or adoption of standards related to 

information content and technology. The Steering 

Team convenes working groups within the 

NBII partnership network, as needed, to help 

implement adopted standards enterprise-wide. 

The NBII enterprise-wide taxonomic authority 

is ITIS. Standards and infrastructure activities 

are implemented through the following two 

infrastructure nodes. 

 • Network Standards and Technology Node: Led 

 by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics 

 (CBI), this node ensures the development 

 and adoption of a core set of standards 

 and delivers the tools, applications, 

 processes, and systems to support overall 

 network development and operation. CBI 

 conducts these activities in partnership with 

 other organizations with relevant expertise. 

 • Knowledge Integration Node: This node is 

 led by CBI with key partnerships with ITIS 

 and CSA. It focuses on identifying, selecting, 

 developing, and implementing network-wide

 methods and techniques for organizing 

 content to enhance the identification, retrieval, 

 and use of information. This is achieved 

 through the use of tools such as content-rich,

 standards-compliant metadata to document 

 data sets and information products. Other 

 applied tools include controlled vocabularies, 

 taxonomies, and authorities developed by ITIS. 

International initiatives: The USGS Program Office 

represents the United States in international biodiversity 

networking initiatives such as the GBIF, the IABIN, and 

the CHM of the Convention on Biological Diversity. 

It ensures that NBII development and international 

network implementation proceed in directions that 

promote interoperability at a global scale. The Program 

Office also works closely with international funding 

organizations like the World Bank and the U.S. Agency 

for International Development to help secure resources 

to support the development of these multi-national 

networks, that are critical for issues such as invasive 

species and diseases from other countries.

Biodiversity and Ecosystems Informatics Working 

Group (BioEco): Established under the committee 

structure of the White House’s OSTP, BioEco’s 

charge is threefold: 1) to provide a focus for federal 

biodiversity and ecosystem informatics activities, 2) to 

coordinate federal products and activities with those of 

the nonfederal sector, and 3) to ensure U.S. coordination 

with international and global efforts. BioEco developed 

a framework for the NBII4 and monitors NBII activities, 

providing continual assessment of progress and results 

to USGS through the NBII Program Office. The 

Program Offices keeps BioEco apprised of activities 

through frequent briefings.

NBII Science Committee: To ensure continued 

responsiveness to user and stakeholder needs, and to 

provide scientific and technical guidance, the USGS 

has commissioned a Science Committee. This group is 

made up of nationally and internationally known experts 

from the fields of biology and other natural sciences, 

information science, and computer science and includes 

representatives from all relevant USGS disciplines, EPA, 

NASA, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), as 

well as the museum and university communities. The 

Committee will advise on the technical and scientific 

content of the NBII, identify emerging scientific issues, 

recommend long- and short-range strategies, and identify 

partners who can further NBII scientific efforts.

Strategy 2. PROVIDE RESOURCES FOR THREE 

ADVANCED REGIONAL NODES.

Biodiversity and ecosystems data present unique, 

highly complex challenges to information validation, 

management, delivery, and application. NBII nodes 

are working toward providing sophisticated services 

that will enable the simultaneous querying and 

analysis of multiple, large databases, and methods 

for integrating data mining tools and applying ever 

better data visualization technologies. USGS has 

provided additional resources to three regional nodes 

to enable them to serve as test beds for concepts, 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

12

technologies, and methodologies before networkwide implementation. This allows USGS to perfect 

technologies on a smaller scale, avoiding the potential 

high costs and risks associated with re-working across 

the entire network. The three advanced nodes are the 

Pacific Basin Information Node, Central Southwest/

Gulf Coast Information Node, and Southern 

Appalachian Information Node.

Strategy 3. EXPAND THE NETWORK OF 

REGIONAL NODES TO ENCOMPASS THE ENTIRE 

UNITED STATES, AND PROVIDE A BASELINE 

LEVEL OF SERVICE AT EACH NODE.

Figure 3 depicts the USGS plan for national coverage 

of local and regional issues through an interconnected 

network of regional NBII nodes. This strategy calls for 

the regional network to increase both geographically, 

through the establishment of the remaining regional 

nodes, and functionally, through the continuing 

evolution of the range of services each node provides. 

As this evolution occurs, nodes will become more 

like regional service centers, where users can turn 

for assistance in the form of training and education, 

information synthesis analysis, and communitybuilding capabilities.

A baseline level of node functionality is defined as 

having a configuration that provides: 1) pertinent 

regional data and other content via the Web; 2) 

training to stakeholder groups; 3) virtual collaboration 

capabilities; 4) basic tools to enable regional data 

collection and management; 5) educational and 

outreach materials on NBII network-wide capabilities; 

and 6) Web services for data and application delivery. 

Full functionality for the nodes includes: data and 

information analysis and synthesis, data visualization, 

data mining, technical assistance, and the development 

of tools for data integration and interoperability.

Several of the existing nodes have been initiated, but 

have not achieved a baseline level of functionality. 

This baseline is taken to mean that the node can 

perform all of the functions described on pages 6 and 

7. (Note that some functions are provided through 

implementation of a national solution on behalf of the 

entire network.) Those nodes that must be enhanced to 

achieve the baseline include the California Information 

Node, the Southwest Information Node, and the 

Mountain-Prairie Information Node (formerly Northern 

Rockies). Regions of the country that have not yet been 

Figure 3. USGS plans 

a total of 12 NBII 

Regional Nodes.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

11

12

9

Pacific Northwest (1)

California (2)

Mountain Prairie (3)

Southwest (4)

Central Southwest/Gulf Coast (5)

Southern Appalachian (7)

Northeast (8)

Mid-Atlantic (9)

Pacific Basin (12)

Great Lakes (6)

Southeast (10)

Alaska (11)

Current Proposed
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

13

addressed include Alaska, the Great Lakes region, and 

the Southeast. 

Strategy 4. PURSUE A THEMATIC APPROACH TO 

MANAGING THE INFORMATION RELEVANT TO 

BIOLOGICAL ISSUES OF NATIONAL CONCERN.

A thematic approach to issues of concern allows 

the USGS to focus NBII resources toward national 

level coordination and avoid duplication of effort 

within regions. NBII thematic nodes are established 

to accelerate national coverage of issues that are of 

priority national concern and that can benefit from 

coordination at the national level. Areas for thematic 

focus are selected by USGS in partnership with key 

leaders in the natural resources community based 

on expressed assessments and/or designations by 

the DOI and other government agencies responsible 

for the monitoring or management of the nation’s 

natural resources. Whenever possible, NBII thematic 

nodes build on frameworks developed by those 

already engaged in addressing an issue of concern. 

For example, the NBII Bird Conservation Node was 

built on the informatics framework developed by the 

North American Bird Conservation Initiative. To date, 

several thematic areas of national concern have been 

identifed by DOI bureaus and the NBII cooperators. 

These include: wildlife disease, botany, genomics, 

protected areas, threatened and endangered species, 

natural history collections, and pollinators.

Strategy 5. LEVERAGE RESOURCES THROUGH 

PARTNERSHIPS.

Fundamental to the structure of the NBII is its capacity 

to build and strengthen partnerships across federal, 

state, local, international, academic, non-profit, and 

private sectors. In order for the NBII to succeed in 

providing qualitative and quantitative natural resources 

data and information to decision-makers, it must 

incorporate all of these interests to ensure a complete 

picture drawn from the best possible sources. NBII 

strategic partnerships are established to:

• Increase NBII content.

• Give stakeholders a voice in NBII strategic 

directions for the future.

• Promote the development and implementation of 

advanced technology.

• Leverage resources among all partners.

In 2002, NBII leveraged contributions from partners 

at a ratio of 1:3 (one USGS dollar leveraged by the 

monetary or in-kind equivalent of three contributed 

dollars from partners). It is anticipated that 

partner support will continue at this ratio. Partner 

contributions include:

• Personnel,

• New technologies, models, and applications,

• Metadata records prepared for legacy or new data,

• Real property, space, equipment, and software,

• Educational materials,

• Computational tools and capabilities, and

• Newly digitized data and databases.

The USGS has built partnerships with organizations 

through which the major biological resource data and 

information management activities of the country are 

linked. This enables the NBII to coordinate a single, 

successful strategy for the sharing and management 

of natural resource knowledge. Such partnerships 

include:

State agencies and organizations holding state data 

and information. States and associated organizations 

(such as IAFWA) have key responsibilities for 

managing the nation’s natural resources. In line with 

these responsibilities, they gather and maintain large 

quantities of natural resources data and information. 

These organizations also have a significant role as 

users of the NBII. USGS is responsible for developing 

partnerships with individual states for collaboration on 

regional nodes, and the NBII Program Office seeks to 

develop broad partnerships with national organizations 

that represent state interests. Examples: State Heritage 

programs, USDA Extension Offices, State departments 

of Fish and Game and Natural Resources.

Biological and ecological research organizations. 

Numerous organizations across the nation and around 

the world are engaged in scientific research in the 

biological/ecological realm. In order to access this 

vast source of data and information, partnerships 

are needed that facilitate unifying and synthesizing 

science information to address critical biological 

issues. Greater access to these information resources 

will invigorate the scientific process, which in turn 

informs and benefits resource management decisions. 

Examples: federal research agencies, universities, 

biological/ecological organizations.

Federal and other land management organizations. 

One USGS key objective for the NBII is to provide 
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

14

5

 Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Subcommittee on 

Ecological Systems, “Ecological Forecasting: Agenda for the Future,” p. 6.

6

 D. Maier, et al., eds,. “Research Directions in Biodiversity and 

Ecosystem Informatics: Report of an NSF, USGS, and NASA Workshop 

on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Informatics held at NASA Goddard Space 

Flight Center, June 22-23, 2000” (Greenbelt, MD: NASA Goddard Space 

Flight Center, 2001).

information and tools to resource managers for 

decision-making. To do that, the NBII develops 

national level partnerships with agencies responsible 

for land and resource management to understand their 

information needs, to make their natural resources 

information accessible, and to leverage resources to 

achieve NBII and agency objectives. Examples: Bureau 

of Land Management, National Marine Fisheries 

Service, U.S. Department of Transportation, Department 

of Defense, and state fish and wildlife agencies.

Leaders of biological networks and systems. To achieve 

the USGS vision for a “national” infrastructure, 

the NBII partners with other networks to facilitate 

complete content coverage, data access, standards 

development, and technology deployment. Examples: 

Ocean Biodiversity Information System, National 

Spatial Data Infrastructure, and USGS National Water 

Quality Assessment Program.

Leaders of information science research and 

development (R&D) activities. In order for the NBII 

to achieve functionality, the NBII partners with 

organizations leading or conducting information 

science R&D that can be leveraged and applied to 

the biodiversity and ecosystems domain. Examples: 

Institute of Museum and Library Services, Los Alamos 

National Laboratory, National Center for Ecological 

Analysis and Synthesis, Long Term Ecological Research 

Network, and NatureServe.

Stewards of natural science collections. Natural 

history museums, herbaria, botanical and zoological 

gardens, and other natural science collections have been 

identified as important contributors to and users of the 

NBII, providing both taxonomic expertise and specimen 

data. Examples: Academy of Natural Sciences, 

American Museum of Natural History, and Natural 

Science Collections Alliance.

International initiatives. Serious and costly issues 

such as invasive species and zoonotic diseases require 

the sharing of knowledge with other countries. 

Participation in continental, hemispheric, and global 

biodiversity networking initiatives provides the 

opportunity to make U.S. biological information and 

data resources available to the world and to make 

the world’s biological knowledge available to the 

United States through the NBII. Additionally, as the 

U.S. contribution to these multinational initiatives 

(see Figure 4), the NBII helps the nation fulfill its 

international commitments. Examples: IABIN, OAS, 

and World Bank.

Strategy 6. SUPPORT BIOLOGICAL INFORMATICS 

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

To fulfill broad needs for new information technologies 

to support the biological science community, the 

USGS supports biological informatics R&D through 

NBII partnerships. The scientific community needs 

advanced computer modeling; multi-scale analysis and 

synthesis; learning systems; data collection, mining, 

and visualization; and other applications to support 

research and the natural resources decision-making 

process. These tools are required, for example, to 

address ecological forecasting.5

In 2000, the USGS, NSF, and NASA sponsored a 

workshop that brought together leading computer 

scientists, biologists, and natural resource managers 

to develop an approach for focusing computer science 

research on the complex and often unique challenges 

found in the biodiversity and ecosystems domain. 

As a result of this workshop, a research agenda was 

developed6 that outlined areas where computer science 

research would benefit the natural resource/biology 

discipline. The NBII supports the fulfillment of 

the biological informatics research priorities of the 

community in the following key areas:

• Joint NSF/NASA/USGS activities to stimulate 

and/or fund competitive research proposals 

responding to the research agenda,

• Partnerships between nodes and universities 

having advanced computer science capabilities 

to develop grant proposals that address research 

priorities,

• Participation in reviews and on steering groups 

related to biological informatics proposals, and

• Increased awareness within the computer science 

research agenda and the challenges it presents.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

15

Strategy 7. EDUCATE NBII USERS AND POTENTIAL 

USERS THROUGH OUTREACH, TRAINING, AND 

TECHNICAL SUPPORT.

NBII Program Office staff work with partner agencies 

and organizations to ensure that users have the 

knowledge they need to interact effectively with 

and document data and information served via the 

NBII. Data contributors need to reflect accurately the 

purpose, methods, taxonomy, coordinates or location, 

and other pertinent information associated with 

their data sets. The NBII ensures this knowledge by 

providing outreach, training, and technical assistance 

to partners, stakeholders, and customers to ensure 

successful interaction with NBII tools and data.

Outreach efforts include briefings and presentations 

by staff and partners, the Web-accessible NBII Portal, 

exhibits at natural resources conferences and other 

gatherings of the biological community, conference 

papers and journal articles, press releases and media 

interviews, and the production and distribution of a 

variety of educational materials. The type and level 

of training and technical assistance provided to 

users is dependent upon: 1) the application or tool 

needed; 2) the amount of assistance required; and 

3) the specific request made. NBII nodes strive to 

provide as much assistance as possible through online 

documentation; but significant personal assistance, 

including one-on-one help, also is provided within 

available resources.

Strategy 8. INVEST RESOURCES IN PILOT 

PROJECTS TO ADDRESS HIGH PRIORITY NEEDS 

AND TO ESTABLISH VALUE AND FUNCTIONALITY 

OF FURTHER INVESTMENTS.

From time to time, critical issues of biological 

concern emerge, creating an urgent need for data and 

information to be made available. An example of such 

an emerging issue is wildlife disease and its impact 

on human health and the economy. More specifically, 

Chronic Wasting Disease, and the West Nile virus, 

virtually unheard of even five years ago, have in the last 

two years become national concerns. When the USGS 

and others identify such issues as requiring national 

attention, the NBII responds by investing resources 

to make critical data and information through a pilot 

project available as quickly as possible. Such resources 

come from USGS, as well as from other sources 

such as the U.S. Departments of State or Defense, 

World Bank, NSF, and others. Work conducted as a 

pilot project often establishes the value of providing 

information and tools targeted to specific issues, and 

sometimes results in resources being specified for that 

area in future funding cycles. When this happens, the 

initial resources invested in the pilot project become 

available for reinvestment in another area that needs to 

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

CBD Clearing-house Mechanism (CHM)

Inter-American Biodiversity Information Network (IABIN)

North American Biodiversity Information Network (NABIN)

NBII (U.S.), CBIN (Canada), REMIB (Mexico), 

ERIN (Australia)

State Natural Heritage Programs

Gap Analysis Program (GAP)

County/city data

GLOBAL

NATIONAL

LOCAL

HEMISPHERIC

Figure 4. USGS provides international leadership through the NBII, which organizes U.S. biological 

information and makes it available worldwide through multinational initiatives.
Strategic Plan for the USGS National Biological Information Infrastructure

16

be addressed. This flexibility allows the NBII to remain 

responsive to high priority national needs.

Achieving the Plan

Achieving this plan’s ambitious vision for the NBII 

requires a dedicated effort as well as significantly 

increased capacity. Such capacity building can only 

occur through the continued support of the USGS and 

DOI, teamed with the significant contributions made 

daily by the entire federation of partners. NBII efforts 

must be channeled toward support of its goals and 

mission. Through such efforts, valuable biological 

data and information will become available in an 

unprecedented volume – and the ability of decisionmakers and scientists to interact with those data will be 

greatly enhanced. It follows, then, that in the presence 

of data and tools, decision-makers and scientists will 

be able to use the NBII to invigorate the scientific 

process, and in turn generate new knowledge to be 

passed on to the nation’s natural resource managers 

and stewards. It is in this ultimate implementation 

that the NBII fully supports and embodies Secretary 

Norton’s vision of conservation through cooperation, 

consultation, and communication.
Notes
Notes