LaSoMi Fall 2001 Meeting

Fall 2001 Meeting at the National Wetlands Research Center

Date: Saturday, December 1, 2001
9:00 am - 12 noon

Place: National Wetlands Research Center
Lafayette, LA

Pictures

NWRC Library Homepage

The Fall Meeting was held on Saturday, December 1, at the National Wetlands Research Center, Lafayette, LA.

There were two speakers at the meeting:

1. Gabrielle Boudreaux Bodin discussed the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA). This law, passed in 1990, funds wetland enhancement projects nationwide, designating approximately $50 million annually for work in Louisiana.

This work is an important issue for Louisiana, because Louisiana has lost up to 40 square miles of marsh a year for several decades. Louisiana's loss constitutes 80 percent of the nation's annual coastal wetland loss. If the current rate of loss is not slowed, by the year 2040 an additional 800,000 acres of wetlands will disappear, and the Louisiana shoreline will advance inland as much as 33 miles in some areas.

The CWPPRA Taskforce annually develops a list of high-priority projects to be constructed. To date, ten such priority lists have been formulated. The projects funded by CWPPRA all focus on marsh creation, restoration, protection or enhancement.

Gabrielle Bodin is the Acting Outreach Coordinator for the Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection Restoration Act and will explain the Act, projects, status of projects and coastal wetlands loss issues specific to the state.

2. Judy Buys, NWRC librarian took attendees on a virtual tour of the NWRC and discussed current research initiatives. Judy also discussed the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata and Biological Profile is the accepted standard for documenting data in many formats. She reviewed the standard, compare it to USMARC, and show how it can be converted to USMARC and served in a library catalog. Creating metadata is a valuable service that libraries can offer.

Pictures of the event (provided by Becky Hebert):

Taking a tour of the NWRC.

Waiting for the presentation to begin.