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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">The record-keeping requirement under
the MBTA is actually not the regulation that pertains to
scientific collecting. <br>
<br>
This is the regulation pertaining to scientific collecting:
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_CFR-2D2013-2Dtitle50-2Dvol9_xml_CFR-2D2013-2Dtitle50-2Dvol9-2Dpart21.xml-23seqnum21.23&d=AwMD-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=qbcPcyt7hhZHBstICqcFnL17MfqK7zIWIOUkD54X7Yc&s=ej7i5ZCjwGfvq-QmWiufyZISzr4XCScjPK4_9C8-wlw&e=">http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2013-title50-vol9/xml/CFR-2013-title50-vol9-part21.xml#seqnum21.23</a><br>
<br>
This is the requirement under that section: <br>
<br>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 13.3333330154419px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal;
widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; display: inline !important; float: none;">(4) In addition
to any reporting requirement set forth in the permit, a report
of the scientific collecting activities conducted under
authority of such permit shall be submitted to the issuing
officer on or before January 10 of each calendar year
following the year of issue unless a different date is stated
in the permit.<br>
<br>
</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing:
normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start;
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widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width:
0px; display: inline !important; float: none;"></span>
<p>These regulations went into effect in 1974. <br>
</p>
<p>In addition, the overarching general permits provision says:
<br>
</p>
<p>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<span class="SECTNO SECTION-SECTNO" style="font-weight: bold;
text-align: left; width: 157.800003051758px; float: left;
color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif; font-size:
13.3333330154419px; font-style: normal; font-variant:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">§ 13.46</span><span
class="SUBJECT SECTION-SUBJECT" style="font-weight: bold;
width: auto; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: sans-serif;
font-size: 13.3333330154419px; font-style: normal;
font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height:
normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Maintenance
of records.</span><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);
font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px;
font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight:
normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal;
orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px;
text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto;
word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; display:
inline !important; float: none;"></span><span class="P"
style="display: block; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:
10px; clear: both; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family:
sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; font-style:
normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal;
letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto;
text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none;
white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;
-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">From the date of issuance
of the permit, the permittee shall maintain complete and
accurate records of any taking, possession, transportation,
sale, purchase, barter, exportation, or importation of
plants obtained from the wild (excluding seeds) or wildlife
pursuant to such permit. Such records shall be kept current
and shall include names and addresses of persons with whom
any plant obtained from the wild (excluding seeds) or
wildlife has been purchased, sold, bartered, or otherwise
transferred, and the date of such transaction, and such
other information as may be required or appropriate. Such
records shall be legibly written or reproducible in English
and <font size="+2">shall be maintained for five years</font>
from the date of expiration of the permit. Permittees who
reside or are located in the United States and permittees
conducting commercial activities in the United States who
reside or are located outside the United States must
maintain records at a location in the United States where
the records are available for inspection.</span></p>
As you can see, the legal requirements differ vastly from best
collections practices. <br>
<br>
The NPS info you cited is a permit condition, not a statute or
regulation. My point here is that many specimens collected on
public lands managed by the NPS were collected long before
permits were issued. Thus, this becomes a retroactive
requirement that has no legal basis and that is extremely
onerous. <br>
<br>
Beyond that, the point is that none of this was legally required
between 1918 (when the MBTA was enacted) and some point in the
early 1970s. So this is in fact a request for information that
was not legally required at the time of collection and that is
in fact onerous and extremely burdensome for many of your
colleagues.<br>
<br>
Again, I point out that DOI estimates that it will take 20 years
to compile the data for the materials in its possession and to
do it in that time frame, they will need additional resources
(lotsaluck with that). Accepting for the sake of argument that
they have 90% of the materials and the non-federal facilities
have 10% (how can they possibly know?), that means it could
reasonably take the non-federal facilities an average of 2.2
years, not 2 hrs, 20 minutes.<br>
<br>
Ellen<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwMD-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=qbcPcyt7hhZHBstICqcFnL17MfqK7zIWIOUkD54X7Yc&s=h149pmqrNAKijXcT7SUDdFXxuYP0WeI9crU_FjsWAtI&e=">"
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET"</a>
</pre>
On 2/19/15 1:42 AM, Brown, Matthew A wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote
cite="mid:3E975479-DF10-4421-82D2-DC3524B0D455@utexas.edu"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I am awash with wonder and befuddlement. The point has indeed been missed spectacularly. This ICR is a request for information that we are already supposed to keep. The point is that these aren't new regulations. It's a survey. As a professional research community, we should be responding to the call for comments. But we should also be in possession of the facts first.
Ellen asked "Would appreciate seeing the actual statues and regulations (laws) that state that those permitted to collect on federally managed public lands are required to keep such detailed records. The reason I mentioned permits is that based on my own research, this is the only place this requirement appears (and based on permits for wildlife, I doubt any permits specify what information must be recorded and maintained)."
Sure, each collection is different and has different requirements, and we ought to talk about them. Take ornithological collections, for example. Just the migratory birds, even. Below is the link to the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 50, Chapter 1, Subchapter B, Part 21, Subpart C, Section 21.27, Special Purpose Permits. My extant bird collection is built and held legally because, in addition to our state permit and several others, the USFWS issued a Special Purpose – Possession of Dead Migratory Birds for Educational Purposes permit, which requires, in part 1-
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ecfr.gov_cgi-2Dbin_text-2Didx-3FSID-3D8e499d90225dbdd35842765573ed6836-26node-3Dse50.9.21-5F127-26rgn-3Ddiv8&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=TP8x9JoHM9hQ094qEr8ghSUM8xbFQCHjDdPD2p6xCNA&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ecfr.gov_cgi-2Dbin_text-2Didx-3FSID-3D8e499d90225dbdd35842765573ed6836-26node-3Dse50.9.21-5F127-26rgn-3Ddiv8&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=TP8x9JoHM9hQ094qEr8ghSUM8xbFQCHjDdPD2p6xCNA&e=</a>
"(1) Permittees shall maintain adequate records describing the conduct of the permitted activity, the numbers and species of migratory birds acquired and disposed of under the permit, and inventorying and identifying all migratory birds held on December 31 of each calendar year. Records shall be maintained at the address listed on the permit; shall be in, or reproducible in English; and shall be available for inspection by Service personnel during regular business hours. A permittee may be required by the conditions of the permit to file with the issuing office an annual report of operation. Annual reports, if required, shall be filed no later than January 31 of the calendar year following the year for which the report is required. Reports, if required, shall describe permitted activities, numbers and species of migratory birds acquired and disposed of, and shall inventory and describe all migratory birds possessed under the special purpose permit on December 31 of the reporting
year.
"
So, that is the requirement just to hold migratory bird collections, the scientific collecting permit a few sections earlier in 21.23 requires reporting of specific locality info. I've got another, more specific permit with even more rules for holding Bald and Golden Eagles. With regard to Federal land, if those birds were also collected from NPS property under the required NPS collecting permit, for example, the following is an excerpt of what is required as conditions for collecting there-
>From <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nps.gov_yell_naturescience_npsconditions.htm&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=XirIysMv9qeebOAd4PhtWRFWeyJrxoea0yJ-5adg38s&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nps.gov_yell_naturescience_npsconditions.htm&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=XirIysMv9qeebOAd4PhtWRFWeyJrxoea0yJ-5adg38s&e=</a>
• New specimens must be reported to the NPS annually or more frequently if required by the park issuing the permit.Minimum information for annual reporting includes specimen classification, number of specimens collected, location collected, specimen status (e.g., herbarium sheet, preserved in alcohol/formalin, tanned and mounted, dried and boxed, etc.), and current location.
• Collected specimens that are not consumed in analysis or discarded after scientific analysis remain federal property.The NPS reserves the right to designate the repositories of all specimens removed from the park and to approve or restrict reassignment of specimens from one repository to another.Because specimens are Federal property, they shall not be destroyed or discarded without prior NPS authorization.
• Each specimen (or groups of specimens labeled as a group) that is retained permanently must bear NPS labels and must be accessioned and cataloged in the NPS National Catalog.Unless exempted by additional park-specific stipulations, the permittee will complete the labels and catalog records and will provide accession information.It is the permittee’s responsibility to contact the park for cataloging instructions and specimen labels as well as instructions on repository designation for the specimens.
The Wildlife and Fisheries regs date to at least 1974 (and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act itself to 1918, also of note is the Lacey Act of 1900), and I already pointed out last night the stipulations from the early 60s in the DOI permit issued for Big Bend National Park (under the authority of the Organic Act of 1916 and the Antiquities Act of 1906). Permits are contracts. But seriously, this is Museum Studies 101. If we were to travel back to 1910 and try to explain to Joseph Grinnell why we were making excuses for not having locality data he'd kick us in the seat of the pants. I don't have 3 million specimens in my collections, only about a million and a half, dating back to the 1880s. So it's true that I can't appreciate the scale of Doug's particular problem, and I certainly wouldn't feel so inclined to be a jerk about it if it weren't for statements like "How do I know, then, when I collect something, if I am inside the park boundaries or if I am on the private property? Yes, if
I
have a good gps, I can check later" by the Executive Director of The Ornithological Council, which seems to justify illegally collecting in Shenandoah National Park because one can't be troubled to carry a map. The original survey of Mt. Everest in the 1850s was accurate to a height within 35 ft of modern methods, I would sincerely hope that a 21st century scientific advocacy group could figure out how to find a property line.
Matthew A. Brown
Head of Collections, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory
Lecturer, Department of Geological Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
R7600, Austin, TX 78758
Office:(512)232-5515
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:matthewbrown@utexas.edu">matthewbrown@utexas.edu</a>
jsg.utexas.edu/vpl
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Feb 18, 2015, at 5:40 AM, Ellen Paul <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net"><ellen.paul@verizon.net></a> wrote:
So if you read the notice, you saw that they estimate that the annual burden (to complete the entire report) is 2 hrs, 20 minutes.
How many times can you do this in 2 hrs, 20 minutes (not that this is all they are going to ask you to submit; they want other info, too).
Yes, today you can tell exactly where you are with a GPS. What about all those collectors prior to say, approximately 1996, who didn't have GPS or, if they did, were working at a time when precision was deliberately limited to 100 meters and in random directions from the actual point? You do have materials collected prior to 1996, yes? How did someone in 1887 know exactly where they were?
Would appreciate seeing the actual statues and regulations (laws) that state that those permitted to collect on federally managed public lands are required to keep such detailed records. The reason I mentioned permits is that based on my own research, this is the only place this requirement appears (and based on permits for wildlife, I doubt any permits specify what information must be recorded and maintained). So by asking for information prior to the issuance of permits with this requirement, they are imposing a substantial retroactive requirement.
And by the way, you just wasted 15 minutes searching for maps from Falls Church, Maryland. The canal is in Maryland, but Falls Church is in Virginia and four miles inland from the Virginia side of the river.
Ellen
Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=sKCMm-5DfDQqT4Wps9dhOBkisM3fyXftdtTaqNWf7jA&e=">"
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=1FKQB8YNEoaKu6EsnuegYVyOpW-dL6c_MkAWVB1hb6Y&s=sKCMm-5DfDQqT4Wps9dhOBkisM3fyXftdtTaqNWf7jA&e= "</a>
On 2/17/15 10:00 PM, Brown, Matthew A wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Assuming I have precise coordinates, the process is extremely straightforward. The USGS offers free downloads of all of their topo maps, including historical maps, so if I were working on specimens from the C&O Canal, for example, I'd start by searching the relevant sheets for a place like Falls Church MD between 1951 and today, like this 1994 map (Rockville dates back to 1908)- <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__store.usgs.gov_b2c-5Fusgs_catalog_setCurrentItem_-28isQuery-3Dyes-26layout-3D6-5F1-5F61-5F58-26uiarea-3D2-26ctype-3DcatalogQuery-26next-3DseeItem-26carea-3D-2524ROOT-26citem-3D00000008210000000012-29_.do&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=w5vb7PORY3ET933NJFZfDei0GFwC0UDHeaty93Fw4rY&s=GDHftjvSAvMM-ux2UZ_YWCa0XGUv95ZGWyvDJcpKkdo&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__store.usgs.gov_b2
c-5Fusgs_catalog_setCurre
ntItem_-28isQuery-3Dyes-26layout-3D6-5F1-5F61-5F58-26uiarea-3D2-26ctype-3DcatalogQuery-26next-3DseeItem-26carea-3D-2524ROOT-26citem-3D00000008210000000012-29_.do&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=w5vb7PORY3ET933NJFZfDei0GFwC0UDHeaty93Fw4rY&s=GDHftjvSAvMM-ux2UZ_YWCa0XGUv95ZGWyvDJcpKkdo&e=</a>
and also probably composite state maps from a source like gpsfiledepot.com, which I use as a layer in my GPS and in Garmin's free Basecamp software. Without precise coordinates, it is usually still doable, and our collections manager, Chris Sagebiel, is a master of forensic locality IDs. Yes, in the past we have consulted field notes, and when not available or to supplement them, index card catalogs, photo archives, tax offices, personal correspondence files, primary literature, government reports, the original collector or field crew, people who were children in the 1930s when the WPA collected on their ranch, museum exhibits, and in a worst case scenario even Federal land managers who typically have highly detailed records to find original locality or temporal property ownership information. Admittedly, I haven't been there, and allowing for surveying errors, I seriously doubt that there is a section of the C&O Canal where property ownership can't be established within the
margi
n of error of a $50 GPS unit.
As a point of interest, the oldest permit in our records that immediately comes to my fingertips was issued by DOI in 1962 authorizing the collection of vertebrate fossils from Big Bend National Park under the authority of the Antiquities Act of 1906. Section 7.f of the permit requires that the permittee furnish "a complete inventory and locality description of any specimens collected" and send reports to DOI and the Smithsonian. This ICR is requesting information that we, as repositories, are already required by law and regulation (and professional ethics) to keep. So, yes, DOI and SI should have them already, but as you mentioned, the Inspector General notes that the records aren't complete. Ostensibly, we, the collectors, are the ones doing research. Is it not fair to assume that as museums we keep copies of permits, field notes, and other accession records, and can link them to the objects? Without that data, they aren't specimens at all, they're just novelties or curiosities,
bit
s of flesh and sawdust and sand.
Matthew A. Brown
Head of Collections, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory
Lecturer, Department of Geological Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
R7600, Austin, TX 78758
Office:(512)232-5515
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:matthewbrown@utexas.edu">matthewbrown@utexas.edu</a>
jsg.utexas.edu/vpl
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Feb 17, 2015, at 5:26 PM, Ellen Paul <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net"><ellen.paul@verizon.net></a> wrote:
How are you going to determine the status of the location where a given item was collected at the time it was collected, assuming you had precise coordinates?
There were no permits until the 1970s or so, as best I can determine. There may have been letters of authorization issued by individual protected areas, and perhaps that is noted in your records. But absent a permit or other document (assuming you kept each document and it can link each document to a particular specimen and vice versa), how will you know if it was collected from public lands at the time collected? Go through all the field notes? What if the field notes were lost, destroyed, are illegible, or not conclusive?
Heck, at the time collected, the collector would have had to know he/she was actually on public lands. Even now, that isn't always feasible. They don't all have fences or boundary markers. I can take you to the C&O Canal and from one section to the next, you won't have any way to know if you are on federal, state, or county property.
Ellen
Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email: <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=w5vb7PORY3ET933NJFZfDei0GFwC0UDHeaty93Fw4rY&s=EfRiurc08nI4jPLTegdX_ErwPnj8MG6Uc0uIT5EAcL4&e=">"
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.nmnh.si.edu_BIRDNET&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=w5vb7PORY3ET933NJFZfDei0GFwC0UDHeaty93Fw4rY&s=EfRiurc08nI4jPLTegdX_ErwPnj8MG6Uc0uIT5EAcL4&e= "</a>
On 2/17/15 6:16 PM, Brown, Matthew A wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Are you really going to take the time to go back through your collections - every item! - to determine what came from DOI-managed public lands - ever - even though not georeferenced that precisely at the time collected, even though the exact site may or may not have been DOI-managed public land at the time?
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">Um... yes. I'd be a pretty poor steward if I couldn't be accountable for what my institution holds in our public trust collections.
Matthew A. Brown
Head of Collections, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory
Lecturer, Department of Geological Sciences
Jackson School of Geosciences
The University of Texas at Austin
R7600, Austin, TX 78758
Office:(512)232-5515
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:matthewbrown@utexas.edu">matthewbrown@utexas.edu</a>
jsg.utexas.edu/vpl
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">On Feb 17, 2015, at 12:25 PM, Ellen Paul <a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net"><ellen.paul@verizon.net></a> wrote:
I hope everyone has read or will read this specific item because it is a big deal for museum collections:
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_FR-2D2015-2D02-2D03_html_2015-2D01880.htm&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nOx2v156D8uT1thUwsFwrfYvlGSuQwB5albVTXKh5v8&s=SWv4ecrUIXFG5zsWfnHrFuQJPhIv9KEo92dbsnRymkA&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_FR-2D2015-2D02-2D03_html_2015-2D01880.htm&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nOx2v156D8uT1thUwsFwrfYvlGSuQwB5albVTXKh5v8&s=SWv4ecrUIXFG5zsWfnHrFuQJPhIv9KEo92dbsnRymkA&e=</a>
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_FR-2D2015-2D02-2D03_pdf_2015-2D01880.pdf&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nOx2v156D8uT1thUwsFwrfYvlGSuQwB5albVTXKh5v8&s=iHt12FZYwcCSSpinV_g8p7SkIWAX0uBPETumdAySeco&e=">https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.gpo.gov_fdsys_pkg_FR-2D2015-2D02-2D03_pdf_2015-2D01880.pdf&d=AwIF-g&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=nOx2v156D8uT1thUwsFwrfYvlGSuQwB5albVTXKh5v8&s=iHt12FZYwcCSSpinV_g8p7SkIWAX0uBPETumdAySeco&e=</a>
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, federal agencies can't request information from non-federal entities or citizens without permission from the White House Office of Management and Budget. To obtain approval for an Information Collection Request (ICR) they must publish the proposed ICR for comment which is what they are doing here.
This request is no doubt in part a result of the reports of the Inspector General (at least two over the past decade) that criticized DOI rather harshly for not having adequate inventories of stuff collected from public lands managed by DOI agencies (USFWS, NPS, BLM).
Take a good look at what they are going to require you to do. We've had this discussion in the context of the NPS situation. Are you really going to take the time to go back through your collections - every item! - to determine what came from DOI-managed public lands - ever - even though not georeferenced that precisely at the time collected, even though the exact site may or may not have been DOI-managed public land at the time? You'd have to know the boundaries of each site at the time of collection, assuming it was even designated as a:
National Wildlife Refuge
National Park
Public land area managed by the BLM
National wildlife preserve
Elk refuge
National bird refuge
etc.
at the time of collection.
And they estimate that this will take 2 hrs, 20 minutes per year.
THEY RECEIVED NO COMMENTS IN RESPONSE TO THE PRIOR NOTICE PUBLISHED IN MARCH 2014.
The Department of the Interior invites comments on: (a) Whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) The accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the collection and the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) Ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) Ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other collection techniques or other forms of information technology. ‘‘Burden’’ means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide information to or for a federal agency. This includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for
the
purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.
Think about the potential consequences of not complying once this goes into effect.
I really suggest you read this notice carefully.
Ellen
Ellen Paul
Executive Director
The Ornithological Council
Email:
<a moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:ellen.paul@verizon.net">ellen.paul@verizon.net</a>
"Providing Scientific Information about Birds
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