Attached please find a document that describes a number of recommendations for amending the Fish and Wildlife Program in relation to enhancing data management and data dissemination at a basin wide scale. The document describes several proposed actions and their rationales, and the actions are summarized here as follows:
-- Clearly define the program's data management needs in relation to assessing progress toward meeting subbasin planning and recovery planning goals.
-- Expand support of database projects that acquire, standardize and disseminate environmental data that result from FWP supported projects and ongoing management and monitoring activities in the basin. Determine the additional types of data needed through collaborative regional workshops. Expand support sufficiently to assure capture of existing data types from all sources, especially from tribal management programs.
-- The existing regional-scale data management projects should be formally recognized in the monitoring section of the FWP for the purpose of compiling and disseminating consolidated data of specific types for each project. These projects should include, at a minimum, the Fish Passage Center, Integrated Biological Information System, Pacific Northwest Water Quality Data Exchange, PIT Tag Information System, Regional Mark Processing Center, and StreamNet.
-- Outline a long range plan for enhanced use of information technology to improve and expand regional scale data sharing. The approach should incorporate phased actions over coming years, such as:
- Investigate the feasibility of using Distributed Data Base Management Systems technology by supporting development of a pilot DDBMS to integrate data from existing consolidated databases such as fish population data from StreamNet, water quality data from the Pacific Northwest Water Quality Data Exchange and aquatic habitat data from a large habitat database (possibly AREMS or Oregon AIP).
- Support the development of consolidated statewide database systems within the management agencies to build the capacity for agencies to output monitoring data to a regional scale distributed data management system and to increase efficiency and speed of providing data to regional database projects.
- Evaluate the cost and feasibility of developing a comprehensive distributed database management system to provide consolidated data of multiple types from the basin's management agencies, building from the two actions listed above, .
-- Support collaborative efforts to coordinate actions related to regional data sharing and standardization of monitoring activities, including participation of data source agencies and users of the data at a basinwide scale. For details and rationale for these recommended actions, please see the attached document. Please feel free to contact us for further information about these recommendations.