2. Challenge Grant Update April 19, 2006 Douglas Sellers, NatureServeJanice Miller, WA DNR

3. Challenge Grant Update  About the Grant Partners  Status of Grant Activities  Unique Challenges  Washington Node Update  Next Steps  Questions

4. Grant Partner Organizations  Challenge Grant Lead  State of Delaware, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control  Participating Agencies  NatureServe  State of Washington, Department of Natural Resources  State of Washington, Department of Ecology  State of New Mexico, Natural Heritage New Mexico  State of Illinois, Department of Natural Resources

5. NatureServe Key Activities  Establish scientific standards for biological inventory and biodiversity data management.  Develop comprehensive and current databases for at-risk species and ecological communities.  Design advanced biodiversity data management systems in partnership with information technology leaders.  Make biodiversity information accessible through the Internet, publications, and custom services to clients and partners.  Provide information products and conservation services to guide natural resource decision-making.

6. NatureServe: 100 staff in 6 offices -Arlington, VA - Boston, MA -Boulder, CO - Ottawa, ON -Durham, NC -Minneapolis, MN Puerto Rico The NatureServe Network in 2006 TVA Navajo Nation Member Programs: 800 staff in - 54 U.S. programs - 8 Canadian programs - 15 Latin American/Caribbean programs

7. Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers...  Collect, analyze, and distribute detailed information about plants, animals, ecosystems.  Conduct field inventories for rare and threatened species and ecological communities.  Track the distribution and conservation status of each species / community and the precise location and status of each population.  Conduct environmental reviews and assessments  Directly protect and manage natural areas in some places Chris Hobson, Virginia Div. of Natural Heritage Photo by Lynda Richardson

8. The “Typical” Natural Heritage Program  Approximately 10 Staff  Annual program budget: US $600,000  Responds to 2,500 information requests each year Québec CDC Staff New York NHP staff Latin American program and CDC staff

9. Status of Challenge Grant Activities

10. Grant Objectives  Implement a new, voluntary biodiversity data flow:  Provides EPA and Exchange Network users with access to locations of threatened and endangered species  Supports conservation planning, environmental regulation and decision-making  Creates opportunity for applications that can consume biodiversity data  Document and share results:  Promotes knowledge transfer to NatureServe network members  Expands audience for Exchange Network to other conservation organizations with similar biodiversity data holdings

11. Project Timeline  Year 1:  Develop XML schema for biodiversity data flow  Develop and implement data access requirements  Develop and implement data transfer utilities  Year 2:  Develop and implement Web Service APIs  Prototype user interfaces to the biodiversity data  Pilot NatureServe Vista application interface  Document and share results

12. Challenge Grant Workshop  Gathered user stories for biodiversity data flow  Identified web service methods  Drafted XML schemas

13. Example Web Service User Stories: GetSpeciesOccurrence  State transportation department planner wants occurrences of rare plants and animals within or near a road building project.  EPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans, & Watersheds needs generalized location data to find out which species are most at risk for impacts from water pollution.  Researcher needs distribution and status for a given species for a specified area.

14. Example Web Service User Stories: IsPresent  NOAA oil spill response team will have immediate access to the most up to date information on the presence of species in the vicinity of the spill to ensure those sites are prioritized for clean-up/protection and are not further damaged during emergency response/clean-up efforts.  DOT office of pipeline safety operators will be able to select an area around a pipeline where a break or defect is found to determine if there are species of concern in that area.

15. XML Schemas for Biodiversity Data  Species schema is at v 0.4  Species occurrence is at v 0.3  Public comments under review, working toward v 1.0  Addressing Exchange Network standards

16. Data Access Policies & Agreements  State Programs are custodians for detailed occurrence data  Data access policies vary from state to state  Data sensitivity issues include:  Protection of sensitive ecological resources  Privacy protection for data providers and/or land owners  State-specific “Data Sharing Agreements” define terms under which NatureServe can provide data to third parties

17. Web Services  Biodiversity query methods:  NameSearch*  GetSpecies*  IsPresent  GetSpeciesOccurrence * Beta version available now  Production version June 06  NatureServe, DE, WA nodes established  Exchange Network methods supported:  Authenticate, Query, GetServices

18. Prototype User Interfaces  Demonstration map viewer for species occurrence data  Displays detailed occurrence data, with species image and link to NatureServe Explorer for full species report

19. NatureServe Vista Pilot  Use Exchange Network to demonstrate application interface between Biotics and NatureServe Vista decision support system via Web Services  Pilot project in Delaware Natural Heritage Program to guide implementation of comprehensive state wildlife plan  June 06 target date for completing the Vista pilot

20. Unique Challenges  Not a typical data exchange flow  Request/Response based Web Services  Existing Web Services for data publishing  Existing XML data standards under NatureServe namespace  Challenge grant, with implementation goals  Ambitious work plan, non-trivial technical challenges  Deploying challenge grant products into production environment at 2 states  Combines challenge grant with deployment grants

21. Unique Challenges, cont.  Spatial Data  Provide Web Services to species location data  Create map-based user interface to spatial data  Model complex polygon shapes in XML schema  Security  Fine-grained authorization roles  Spatial feature-level authorization  Integration with NAAS  Heterogeneous Network  Different deployment environments  Different physical data models – similar logical data models

22. Washington Node Update

23. Washington Natural Heritage Program Node Second Exchange Node for Washington:  Why?  How?

24. Washington Natural Heritage Program Node Steps to implementation:  Work Plan  Equipment Plan  Contractor Selection & Requirements

25. Washington Natural Heritage Program Node Agency Structure Considerations:  WA NHP Connection with WA DNR  DNR ITD Coordination required  Equipment Support  Application Support

26. Washington Natural Heritage Program Node Infrastructure Setup:  Equipment Purchase & Installation  Windsor Node Application Installation

28. Washington Natural Heritage Program Node Current System Status:  Where we are now  Where we go next

29. Next Steps for Biodiversity Nodes  Knowledge transfer to 50+ state programs  Free distribution of grant software products  Publish technical and process documentation  Present informational sessions at regional conferences  Improve grant guidance and visibility for non-traditional data flows  Connect NatureServe member programs with traditional state node agencies on future grant proposals  Add Washington next steps?

30. Questions? http://services.natureserve.org/

31. Questions? http://services.natureserve.org/