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PNW Project Overview 1997
A Clearinghouse for GIS data on the Olympic Peninsula
Principal
Investigators:
Dr.
David
L. Peterson, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources
Dr. Nicholas R.
Chrisman, University of Washington, Department of Geography
Dr. Edward G. Schreiner, USGS Biological Resources Division, Olympic Field
Station,
Washington
Awarded: $43,400
Project
Description:
Managing
natural resources at large spatial scales, particularly across political
and land ownership boundaries, is one of the greatest challenges of
ecosystem management. Assessing
resource distribution, abundance and condition over time in order to make
management and policy decisions is often constrained by lack of spatially
explicit data, or in some cases by lack of access to those data.
For any specific biogeographic region, it is valuable to have a
repository of geo-referenced data on natural resources that can be
accessed by both governmental and non-governmental organizations.
Project Status:
Project
Continued with 1998 funds.
A GIS specialist was hired to direct the administration of ONRC’s role as a regional data clearinghouse. A National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Clearinghouse Node and an accompanying web site were created for the Olympic Peninsula, ensuring Clearinghouse and public access to detailed geo-spatial data from country, city or urban region governmental participants. Staff at the USGS Biological Resources Division Field Station for Protected Area Research and ONRC are preparing and compiling metadata on a series of biologically and geospatially referenced databases from a diverse group of government and nongovernment natural resource agencies and organizations on the Olympic Peninsula. Over 30 organizations that have been contacted, including tribes, non-profits, private landowners, educational institutions, and federal state and local governments; most have agreed to cooperate in data sharing. As metadata is entered into the Clearinghouse, it is searchable via the main FGDC Geospatial Data Clearinghouse from internet entry points (gateways) in Alaska and at FGDC headquarters in Reston, VA. Metadata is locally contributed and locally stored, but globally searchable via the internet.