MonitoringResources.org: Shared Tools for Natural Resource Monitoring

By Jennifer M. Bayer, Rebecca A. Scully and Jake F. Weltzin, U.S. Geological Survey

Field crews measuring a stream. Photo: Jennifer M. Bayer, USGS.

The problem

Natural resource managers need data for decisions at many scales — often across state, agency and watershed boundaries. But the data come from many agencies and programs, each with its own methods and standards, and coordinating them is often too slow and costly.

MonitoringResources.org offers tools to coordinate monitoring, plan cost-effectively and share knowledge. It was built by the Pacific Northwest Aquatic Monitoring Partnership — federal, state, tribal, local and private monitoring programs — and the USGS, with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration and the USGS.

What it does

The free, public site lets users:

• map existing and proposed monitoring projects, with their metadata;
• use a library of standard monitoring methods and protocols;
• plan new programs and share existing ones;
• see where monitoring overlaps or leaves gaps, and whether priorities are being met;
• compare protocols, and find locations and sampling plans for new or better monitoring.

It supports projects through the whole data lifecycle, from planning to implementation, and links to data repositories, GIS databases and program websites. Data documented this way are more valuable: they come with consistent, lasting records of how they were collected.

The tools

Working together: the site also offers educational materials, a community forum, a glossary, and links to data repositories — helping users learn the "who, what, when, where and how" of monitoring, standardize methods within a project, and coordinate across projects for comparisons.

Who uses it

The Bonneville Power Administration invested in the site to standardize protocols for the monitoring it funds in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2017, interest from outside the Northwest has expanded it. Users include:

• the BPA Fish and Wildlife Program — protocols, designs and sites across the Columbia River Basin;
• the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program, a basin-wide, multi-agency effort;
• the Bureau of Land Management's Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring Program — aquatic sites across 13 western states;
• the North American Bat Monitoring Program — continent-wide bat monitoring with many partners.

Benefits

• efficient use of funding, through collaboration;
• a view of current and planned multi-agency monitoring, to spot gaps, overlaps and partners;
• clear, consistent documentation of methods;
• easier discovery of existing data for synthesis;
• lasting records of how data were collected, for future users;
• knowledge sharing among practitioners and managers.

Sources

Based on MonitoringResources.org—Supporting Coordinated and Cost-Effective Natural Resource Monitoring Across Organizations, by Jennifer M. Bayer, Rebecca A. Scully and Jake F. Weltzin, USGS Fact Sheet 2018–3015, U.S. Geological Survey; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The photograph is taken from the fact sheet's PDF, which the import had left out.