Scientific assessments, e.g. USGCRP

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On a smaller and ‘regular’ scale…

• Assessments done at the agency level for specific issues,– E.g. EPA on water quality of the nation’s

lakes– USDA ARS on water use and agriculture

June 2009 NEON PDR 2

Science for science’s sake?

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Scientists doing environmental monitoring are "not being very effective if we are just generating data for

more scientists to play with. We’re not being very effective if we’re focused on databases and peer-

reviewed publications….How we see our knowledge used in decisions becomes the measure. The delivery of

tailored information becomes the point."

Hague Vaughn, Director of Environment Canada's Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network

Coordinating Office

From Alli Srinivas and Gene Russo (U Maryland) Masters of Pub. Policy project:

The problem: Food, fiber, energy, water

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Science and Policy interface

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Figure from Pouyat, et al. 2010. The role of federal agencies in the application of scientific knowledge. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 8(6): 322-328.

“Translating science” and decision making”

• “Farm bill” (USDA)– Estimate program costs (e.g. incentive programs for farmers

to retire highly erodible lands)– Establish criteria for participation– Establish verification (“spot-check”) and enforcement

programs

• How?– Models are used to estimate the above– Require data from various credible data sources– Expose stakeholders, resource managers, policy analysts,

budget analysts (“consumers of assessments”) to the inference chain that lead to the estimates produced by the model

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“Translating science” and decision making”

• Needs of consumers of these assessments– Access to the workflows to assess assumptions– Have a “sandbox” copy of the original workflow to run “what-

if” analyses– Just as scientific publications support supplementary digital

resources, provide a similar “read-only” access to such assessment analyses to consumers of such assessments

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