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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.peer.org/news/press-releases/usgs-fumbles-its-biological-collections.html">https://www.peer.org/news/press-releases/usgs-fumbles-its-biological-collections.html</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;color:black">USGS FUMBLES ITS BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Belated New Policy Leaves Troves of Scientific Specimens in Limbo<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span class="left"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Posted on Sep 17, 2019</span></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black"> <span class="tags">| Tags: <a href="https://www.peer.org/news/tags.html?news-tags=usgs"><b><span style="color:#006600">USGS</span></b></a></span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Washington, DC — The good news is the U.S. Geological Survey finally adopted a policy, in response to a complaint from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), to address
 its burgeoning but unsecured biological collections. The bad news is USGS’ new policy falls well short of what is needed, shortchanging both researchers and the scientific community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">For the past four years, PEER has been pressing the USGS to redress its lack of any written policies or guidelines for its vast natural history collections, some of which have existed
 since the late 1880s, that comprise the bulk of USGS collections. As a result, decades of important biological specimens have been destroyed, lost, or given away.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:#CCCCCC">
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">A 2015 PEER request spurred a critical 2017 report from Interior’s Office of Inspector General (IG). USGS dismissed the findings while promising to address the problem. In 2018, PEER
 filed a complaint charging that the USGS response to the IG was false and demanded a retraction under terms of the Information Quality Act.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:#CCCCCC">
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">After stalling through repeated extensions of the 90-day deadline for answering such complaints, USGS announced that it had adopted a new policy this summer and dismissed the PEER complaint.
 Today, PEER appealed this dismissal arguing that the new USGS policy is deficient.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">“Preserving and documenting the original specimens that support scientific conclusions, especially those that are published, is critical for doing good science,” stated Pacific PEER
 Director Jeff Ruch, noting that USGS neither consulted with, or even notified, its own scientists about this new policy. “USGS still lacks coherent polices for preserving vast natural history collections that reflect an irreplaceable slice of America’s biological
 legacy.”<br>
<br>
PEER’s critique cites inadequacies of the new USGS policy, including that USGS –<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Still classifies its natural history collections as “working collections” not intended for long-term preservation despite their scientific value. As a
 result, few of these research archives are accessible to other researchers to re-examine these materials, let alone accessible to the public;<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:16.8pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:#CCCCCC">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">        
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Lacks procedures to track or inventory the disposition of scientific and working collections; and<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:0in;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:16.8pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;background:#CCCCCC">
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</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">Ignores conflicts with other federal policies and does not acknowledge the property interests of individuals, tribes, or other public agencies.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:18.0pt;background:#CCCCCC">
<span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Verdana",sans-serif;color:black">“The root cause is that USGS has not budgeted for the space or resources to house these collections,” added Ruch, pointing out that the PEER appeal is now before the USGS Director. “The
 best that can be said is that safeguards for our biological heritage stumble forward.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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 }<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<(((_°>.,.,.,.}<)))_°><br>
    V                V                V<br>
Andy Bentley<br>
Ichthyology Collection Manager<br>
University of Kansas<br>
Biodiversity Institute<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-AU">Dyche Hall<br>
<a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9"><span style="color:#0563C1">1345 Jayhawk Boulevard</span></a><br>
<a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9"><span style="color:#0563C1">Lawrence, KS, 66045-7561</span></a><br>
<a href="x-apple-data-detectors://9"><span style="color:#0563C1">USA</span></a><br>
<br>
Tel: <a href="tel:%28785%29%20864-3863" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0563C1">(785) 864-3863</span></a><br>
Fax: <a href="tel:%28785%29%20864-5335" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0563C1">(785) 864-5335</span></a> <br>
Email: <a href="mailto:abentley@ku.edu" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0563C1">abentley@ku.edu</span></a>  </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN-AU"><a href="http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu/" target="_blank"><span style="color:#0563C1">http://ichthyology.biodiversity.ku.edu</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto">    A  :             A  :             A  :<br>
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