Question #9 responses: Please describe additional datasets not currently available at NRIS that would be of use to you.

1) GAP 30 meter statewide landcover 2) 10 meter DEMs 3) The national hydro dataset in an ArcHydro Geodatabase format. 4) Projection files for all of the state shapefiles.
1. More information about non-threatened species in Montana to assist in identification (plants and animals)including distribution maps and descriptions. 2. User-friendly noxious weed database again with pictures descriptions and distribution maps. For plants something on the order of a subset of the NRCS site (USDA) for Montana. I know no $!!
1:24K NHD
10 meter DEMs
24K NHD for the Yellowstone 10m USGS DEM for Yellowstone 100K DEM
a set of all public lands (USFS USNPS BLM FWS) on one map
aerial photographs of towns/cities
As a natural resource program manager use of the thematic mapper has allowed me quick access to see a map and photo of a site where a potential or active project is located. Integration of gis information as an overlay to the thematic mapper would greatly enhance this use.
Bedrock or surficial geologic maps at 1:24000 or 1:100000
Better land use cover including reliable irrigated/non-irrigated info
Cadastral on NRIS website MT GAP analysis data NWI wetlands data for MT
cadastral survey land ownership informaton
Climate data in shape file or e00 satallite data (LandSat spot etc)
Completion of existing datasets e.g. DOQs Soils NWI etc. I know a lot of that is out of your control
Detailed land ownership maps depicting private vs public land
do not know
DOQ's Fergus County; endangered animal plant etc. maps by county;animal migratory patterns;archeaological sites;flood plain maps (yes I know the feds are doing this but SOOO slow)
Environmental assessements/Environmental Impact statements that have been prepared by various agencies to the extent that these documents are public information.
floodplain data
Full text of all reports. Complete species maps for all montana plant and animal species. Complete list of all specimens in MT museums.
GCDB and city maps registered to GCDB
Geodetic control
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES SUCH AS NATIONAL PARKS FORESTED AREAS MOUNTAIN RANGES ETC HAZARDOUS WASTE HANDLERS
Geologic information such as surface geology
Geology Land Parcels More areal photos/Orthos
Hazardous Materials storage sites historical weather data state owned buildings and facilities(all) Natural and Technological Hazards I could go on and on... -I realize this does not "fit" in to the NATURAL charter but I have come to rely on your staff's ablilities with ALL types of GIS data.
Historical air photos
Historical orthophotos or historical aerial photography their lists including yead and agencies. This could be a service provided in conection with USGS).
I feel that perhaps the current datasets are more than superior at this point. There may in the future be additional information which would require expanded datasets as the states environmental condition changes.
I'd really like to see the USGS Geology layer and the land cover grid available. I know there are accuracy and other issues related to both sources but they are better than nothing for informed users. My comments below pertain to the Source Water Protection Program but getting a list of questions that some of your users want to answer would help you focus on how to make the Soils and CAMA data more usable and useful. Easier access to Soils and CAMA data that has been better documented and reformatted so as to to be readily usable would be good. Specifically what I am saying is to sift out fields that are useful for answering a handful of fairly generic questions like the following: Soils: Where are erodable soils where are highly porous and permeable soils or non-porous non-permeable soils. CAMA: which parcels lack public utilities which parcels have wells which parcels have septic systems which parcels are irrigated and what is the acrage generally what kind of buisness is operating on the parcel Are there hazardous materials stored (underground fuel tanks) on the parcel Is there a Burger King on the parcel :).......
imagery other then doqq collection of locally generated datasets (ie. roads structures addresses gov units) that are often updated.
In the Thematic Mapping Interface it would be great to be able to dsiplay more than one informational layer at a time.
Incremental Precipitation
indian land acreage
Land Use/Land Cover is a critical missing piece.
large print out maps can we give you our own data and can you manage it for us? like water quality or digital photos etc.
list of current private landowner's names
Locations of cultural resource investigations (SHPO says sites will never be publicly available); A geographic fauna T&ES search rather than by species comparable to the plant search that is available; Better locations for USTs but that is MDEQ's problem not yours. A geographic database of permitted projects would be awesome -- just think if from a location I could find all the EA checklists etc. that every agency has done in that vicinity.
mines & mining
Montana State Lands data in both map and as raw data
More detailed geologic data. I know that MBMG is coming out with more and more and it oughta be up on the web by quad.
More information on species habitat and location. Easy way to get to a listing of all public lands. As in all BLM on a map of decent quality. Same for State and National Forest etc.
More remote sensing data of Montana
On-line quad-centered aerial photography overlapping for stereo viewing.
Other administrative boundaries; FW&P DNRC etc.
Please expand the topofinder capabilities expanded to include false color IR for use in identifying moist soil / riparian areas. Topofinder is a great tool we use for identifications of wildlife sightings (LatLog/UTM) for use in recording information in GIS.
railroad rights-of-way
realtime water rights data cadastral/cama data seismic data geology data
See my recommendations on http://www.cs.umt.edu/GEOLOGY/nrdp/NRDPmain.htm
Sorting and definations
SSURGO
survey bench marks more detailed topo (where available) more detailed DEM's (where available) bike/hiking trails
The addition of the Bald Eagle Nesting Territories of record that are currently kept by MTFWP would be great in an electronic format. But I understand that this may be privileged information and should not be made available to the general public.
The information available currently meets all of my needs...
This may be too large of a data file to be practical but... I would find useful a consolidated census block map layer for the entire state with race included in the population data in the .dbf file. It would be particularly useful for epidemiological studies and in targeting populations for specific program activities.
Trails. See answer to question 10; Tho something like an NRIS Thematic Health Care Mapper would probably be more appropriate than the datasets.
U.S. Forest Service Trails and Roads
Up to date satilite imagery at no cost. Ability to spatially query well logs and water quality monitoring data at a given well on the fly. Only a limited amount of water quality data is available through the Bureau of Mines and Geology.
USGS geologic maps
UTM NAD83 datasets State Geology Map Land Use Map
watershed sub basin delineations Satellite imagery
Will have to think more about this one. So many added lately that fills most of my needs
Would be nice (though difficult/impossible I'm sure) to have more up to date aerial imagery of the state. That perfect clear cut to use for a landing zone of course is now overgrown after 12 years. Still excellent site!
Your selection is handy. The list looks short but there is an awful lot in there! For myself urban data especially for Billings and Great Falls - like urbal land use street grids parks etc.