NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

ESA Releases New Standards

The Ecological Society of America's Vegetation Classification Panel has released "Standards for Associations and Alliances of the U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Version 1" (see  http://vegbank.nceas.ucsb.edu/vegbank/panel/standards.html).  Culminating a seven-year process, the  purpose of this document is to provide both a technical and a general basis for describing and classifying the plant associations and alliances that are to be formally recognized as units of vegetation under the U.S. National Vegetation Classification (NVC).  The standards presented are recommendations for anybody proposing additions, deletions, or other changes to the named floristic-level units of the NVC.  The document begins with the rationale for developing the standards and a review of the history and development of vegetation classification in the United States.

The detailed standards for establishing and revising the floristic units of vegetation include:

• definitions of the association and alliance concepts;
• requirements for vegetation field plots data acquisition;
• classification and description of associations and alliances;
• peer review of vegetation types proposed for inclusion in the NVC;
• a structure for data access and management (see www.vegbank.org).

The document concludes with a discussion of future prospects and new directions in vegetation classification.  These standards are written with the intention that they will be revised, and new versions of the document will be produced as needed.

Announcing National GAP Annual Meeting in West Virginia

The 12th Annual National Gap Analysis Program Meeting will be held July 31 - August 4, 2002.  This year's meeting location is the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.  The meeting is hosted by the West Virginia Gap Analysis Project and USGS/BRD.

This meeting should be attended by those actively working on Gap Analysis projects and their cooperators as well as potential users of GAP data, such as state and federal agencies, developers, planners, conservation groups, and others involved in management of natural resources.  Sessions will focus on

•  land cover,
•  aquatic GAP,
•  applications and socioeconomics,
•  animal modeling, and
•  accuracy assessment.

Additional information on the meeting can be found at http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/Meetings/2002/default.htm or by contacting Elisabeth Brackney at (208) 885-3560 or brackney@uidaho.edu.

New Flash Movie to Explain GAP

In an effort to make the Gap Analysis Program more accessible to those who are not familiar with GIS applications and who do not have a scientific background, we have developed a short Flash-style movie about the program.  This movie, "Gap Analysis: Keeping Common Species Common" is designed to be a tool that can be used to explain GAP to the general public, the environmental community, and others who could benefit from GAP data.  The movie will be available soon at http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/Flash/movie.htmGAP Analysis Program Flash movie