Project Number: 3625-21000-053-01
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Mar 26, 2007
End Date: Feb 28, 2009

Objective:
The objective of this Specific Cooperative Agreement (hereinafter referred to as this Agreement) is to produce draft digital maps and grids (layers of map data) and associated data sets for the United States that use the best meteorological and technological information available, and which can be used to develop an approved, updated USDA-ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PHZM) for the United States.

Approach:
Using the PRISM climate modeling system, developed by the Cooperator, draft plant hardiness maps based on 1971-2000 temperature data for the conterminous U.S., Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska will be developed, accompanied by uncertainty analyses, variance maps, and separate maps for the periods 1971-1985 and 1986-2000. These layers of map data and data sets will be reviewed by the Technical Review Team, and their recommendations will be incorporated by the Coopertator into the final deliverables of this Agreement. At the completion of these tasks, it is the intent of USDA-ARS to use these deliverables to produce a final USDA-ARS PHZM that will fully acknowledge the contribution of the Cooperator in its development. Once the USDA-ARS PHZM map is produced, it is the intent of USDA-ARS to make it available to the public through a web portal. It is also the intent of ARS to allow the public to download the map and reproduce it without compensation in a wide variety of publications, such as journals, popular press magazines and product catalogues. The USDA-ARS PHZM may also be printed and sold by the National Technical Information Service, General Printing Office of the U.S. Government, or other Federal publishing offices. Therefore, ARS reserves a nonexclusive, irrevocable, royalty free license for the Federal government to publish the map or to authorize others to do so. Future applications of the USDA-ARS PHZM and the layers of map data contributing to it will be explored between USDA-ARS and the Cooperator, along with discussions about the creation of other digital climatological maps of interest to the USDA-ARS, such as solar radiation, evapotranspiration, and heat unit maps. If USDA-ARS and the Cooperator agree to develop mutually these future applications, this Agreement shall be modified to reflect additional objectives, tasks, deliverables and funding.