--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2001 19:09:01 -0500 (EST)
From: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Politics and science? USGS Scientist fired over Arctic Nat'l
Wildlife Refuge maps (fwd)
Sender: Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
I have had no opportunity to verify the veracity or details of this
information. I feel it is important, so I share it with you on this
list. It is from the Social Responsibility Round Table of the American
Library Association. If it annoys you, feel free to delete this. If you
are concerned about politics interfering with science and the publication
of map information, bear with this and read further. First is a forwarded
message from the chairman of the ALA SRRT, then a message from the person
at USGS who was affected by the action.
___________________________
Ken Grabach <[log in to unmask]>
Maps Librarian Phone: 513-529-1726
Miami University Libraries
Oxford, Ohio 45056 USA
---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
>>Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 14:28:29 -0500 (EST)
>>From: Frederick W Stoss <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: SRRT Action Council <[log in to unmask]>
>>Cc: "David W. Inouye" <[log in to unmask]>, [log in to unmask],
>> [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:5952] Politics and science? USGS Scientist fired
>>over Arctic Nat'l
>> Wildlife Refuge maps
>>Reply-To: [log in to unmask]
>>Sender: [log in to unmask]
>>Status:
>>
>>Friends and colleagues
>>
>>This is the first act of censorship by the bush administration. This
>>source of information is David Inouye, noted ecologist with a most
>>distinguished record as a research scientist, science policy advocate, and
>>leader in the Ecological Society of America.
>>
>>This is chilling news. Many people on the lists receiving this message
>>belong to professional societies that must be called into action
>>IMMEDIATELY. A am asking my fellow members of the American Library
>>Association to send this notice to as many colleagues as possible.
>>
>>The message at the bottom of this commentary is frightening.
>>
>>I will request that the Councilors of the American Library Association's
>>Social Responsibilities Round Table and its Task Force on the Environment
>>request ALA's Washington Office to provide it members a report on this
>>issue and have it published in American Libraries, and posted to ALL of
>>ALA's eMail discussion lists.
>>
>>I will make a similar request to other appropriate ALA units, such as the
>>Science and Technology Section of the Association of College and Research
>>Libraries, the Government Documents Round Table, the Intellectual Freedom
>>Round Table, Map and Geography Round Table, and the Library and
>>Information Technology Association.
>>
>>I would encourage every member of any professional organization to do
>>likewise. I have alerted the Special Libraries Association and the
> >American Institute of Biological Science as to this.
> >
> >If Ian Thomas was fired to set an example for other federal employees to
> >follow the bush-mandates in lock-step fashion, we professionals must send
>>a clear message that this type of behavior will NOT be tolerated. Mr.
>>Thomas' work was being done as part of an ongoing research initiative to
>>share biological data with researchers and educators. His firing needs to
>>be investigated.
>>
>>He is being punished for doing something that strikes fear into partisan
>>politians--providing information. This act of censorship cannot go
>>unchallenged.
>>
>>Fred Stoss
>>Coordinator
>>Social Responsibilities Round Table
>>American Library Association
>>
>>Past Chair
>>Task Force on the Environment
>>American Library Association
>>
>>Past Chair
>>Environment Division
>>Special Libraries Association
>>
>>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 12:54:10 -0500
>>From: Terry Link <[log in to unmask]>
>>
>>From:
>>"Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news" <[log in to unmask]>
>>From: "David W. Inouye" <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
> >
>>This news story is also reported at:
>>http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/20010315/t000022700.html
>>
>>From: Kennedy, Robert
>>Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 5:08 PM
>>Subject: USGS Scientist fired over Arctic Nat'l Wildlife Refuge maps
>>
>>Hello All- Here's an infuriating piece of news on the Arctic National
>>Wildlife Refuge issue.
>>
>>The news came over a topic-based listserve on image processing and remote
>>sensing. A scientist working with the USGS was fired because he placed
>>maps of caribou calving areas in the Arctic Nat'l Wildlife Refuge on the
>>web. This map was one of more than 20,000 maps he'd placed on the web. His
>>web page (with all 20,000 maps) has been removed. This apparently happened
>>in the last few days. Please read at least some of his account.
>>
>>This needs attention. It seems to indicate a sea-change in the Department
> >of Interior. While this is not a surprise given Bush's position on the
>>Refuge, we should make sure that it does not go unnoticed. If it bugs you
>>like it bugs me, do something about it. Email Bush. Email or write Senators
>>(our only hope for protection of the Refuge lies in the Senate). Write the
>>newspaper, call your Aunt. This is outrageous.
>>
>>Read on: ------------------------------
>>
>>Hi All,
>>
>>Well, I have been fired for posting to the internet a single web page with
>>some maps showing the distribution of caribou calving areas in the Arctic
>>National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
>>
>>My entire website http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/ has now been
>>removed from the internet. This represents about 3 years worth of work and
>>20,000 plus maps showing bird, mammal and amphibian distributions,
>>satellite imagery, landcover and vegetation maps for countries and
>>protected areas all around of the globe. As far as I aware it was one of
>>the biggest collections of maps online and certainly the biggest collection
>>showing maps of biodiversity and the environment. The website was often
>>visited by over a thousand visitors each week. In addition, I was
>>fulfilling roughly a dozen requests for geospatial data and information
>>from colleagues, other researchers and the general public each day.
>>
>>All of this comes as a rather big surprise to me. I was given no chance to
>>remove the webpage or even finish writing an appeal before my position was
>>terminated. I was working under a contract so I believe I have very little
>>legal recourse. I have received no written explanation (or even an email)
>>stating the exact reasons for the termination decision and I understand
>>that even though this would be a reasonable courtesy to expect, it is
>>unlikely to be forthcoming.
>>
>> From my viewpoint my dismissal was a high-level political decision to set
>>an example to other Federal scientists. I base this belief on the
>>following information I received from a colleague in Alaska who is a
>>leading researcher on the issues involved:
>>
>>"I really hope you don't get fired. In fact, had the timing of what you
>>did not been so inappropriate based on everything else that was going on, I
>>doubt that anyone would have noticed. Your work showed a lot of
>>initiative..."
>>
>>"...the fallout would not have been so great had the subject matter not
>>been one of the three USDOI super hot topics with the new administration
>>and had we not been briefing the Secretary at the nearly exact time your
>>website went up. Everyone is nervous and as I mentioned earlier,
>>consistency in presentation is paramount."
>>
>>So now, I believe my only recourse is to appeal to the general public in
>>the hope that in the future what just happened to me will not happen to
>>others.
>>
>>I would recommend anybody in a similar circumstances to contact the fine
>>people at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
>>(http://www.peer.org) or a similar organization.
>>
>>The response and support I have received from friends online has been
>>truely amazing. I very much appreciate how quickly people have acted on my
>>behalf and helped publicize my plight and I especially wish to thank the
>>international mapping community...receiving letters of support from far
> >away places cheers me up no end. Please feel free to forward this email to
>>other lists and media contacts! I would also be grateful if anybody who
>>misses all the maps I put on the internet please contact the USGS to let
>>them know and to ask that the maps be reposted.
>>
>>I feel very bad that these events are also affecting my colleagues at
>>Patuxent. Patuxent was a great place to work, has amazing researchers and
>>everybody I worked with is very supportive.
>>
>>Many, many thanks for your support,
>>
>>Ian Thomas [log in to unmask]
>>
>> The Details:
>>
>>Nobody instructed/authorized me to post the web pages on Arctic National
>>Wildlife Refuge. It was done on my own initiative. I was working on land
>>cover maps for all National Wildlife Refuges using the new National
>>Landcover Datasets. Last week I published over 1000 land cover maps online
> >covering every National Wildlife Refuge and National Park in the lower 48.
>>(These maps have now been removed from the internet too). Similar land
>>cover data for Alaska were not available but the Arctic National Wildlife
>>Refuge had a good landcover map so I included it.
>>
>>In the past, I helped produce the only set of maps online showing all bird
>>species distributions in Alaska. In addition I have produced online mammal
>>distribution atlases of Africa, maps for tigers in asia and I was working
>>on digitizing North American mammal range maps produced by the Smithsonian
>>Institution.
>>
>>I have also been conducting background research to prepare proposals to
>>study the effects of mineral extraction on biodiversity and protected areas
>>on a very large scale. One such proposal that I was preparing would have
>>looked at exporting analysis and mapping methods applied in the United
>>States to other regions of the World such as Africa. The proposal was
>>co-sponsored by the Mineral Division of USGS and the World Resources
>>Institute.
>>
>>The migration of caribou in North America is the closest thing that we have
>>to the great mammal migrations that occur in Africa. African protected
>>areas are also under great pressure from possible development for mineral
>>extraction. So the carribou distributions that I found on the Fish and
>>Wildlife Service public website were of particular interest. I have also
>>worked for several years on maps of migratory bird distribution patterns. I
>>therefore have a great interest in other migratory animals as many of the
>>temporal mapping problems are similar.
>>
>>I was completely unaware that there was anything wrong with publishing ANWR
>>maps. I have never been informed of any agency restrictions or any other
>>guidelines on publishing maps depicting ANWR... I only now have been
>>informed that there is a two week old agency "communications directive"
>>that limits who is allowed to distribute new information on ANWR within my
>>agency.
>>
>>I thought that I was helping further public and scientific understanding
>>and debate of the issues at ANWR by making some clearer maps. I also hoped
>>that colleagues in USGS would see the maps and then contact me if they
>>needed additional mapping help. I was careful to quote my sources and
>>explain what I had done. I made no statement about what the maps might
>>mean with regard to oil development of the refuge.
>>
>>The web pages were put up on Wednesday, March 7, last week. The first
>>thing I did when I put the ANWR pages up on the internet was to inform
>>other USGS Biological Resources Division mapping people and other agency
>>(Fish Wildlife Service and National Park Service respectively) GIS people
>>through email that they were on the web. Informing other Federal
>>colleagues and agencies immediately upon publication to the web appears to
>>me to be the only reasonable review process available, seeing as there is
>>no internal review website currently available...I have never been informed
>>of any other established proceedure for review of web content on our site.
>>I actually haven't had any complaints about or requests to change any other
>>map on my website...
>>
>>I assumed that if anybody had a problem they could contact me directly and
> >quickly and appropriate steps could be taken almost immediately. I received
>>one warning from a colleague that the maps I put on the internet should be
>>removed. Unfortunately, it was sent on Saturday so I did not receive it in
>>time. I think the decision to terminate me was taken before I even got to
>>work on Monday.
>>
>>I also assumed that because all I was doing was esentially presenting
>>existing public information in a clearer and improved format, there was
>>very little need for any extensive review other than the steps I
>>took. Indeed the changes that I made to the original Fish and Wildlife
>>Service (FWS) web maps were simply to digitize them ("trace"), then overlay
>>them on satellite and vegetation maps and then summarize how may years
>>specific areas were a high density caribou calving area. I found a similar
>>(poor quality) summary map on the FWS website that allowed me to check the
> >accuracy of my simple analysis.
>>
>>I was unaware that FWS had updated the data. There is no mention of
>>updated information on the FWS website. This new data has still to be made
>>public. If my maps were inaccurate in any way so are the public FWS maps I
>>copied.... (please refer to
>>http://www.r7.fws.gov/nwr/arctic/pchmap2.html#section6)
>>
>>I think that over the last three years I have put more maps up on the
>>internet (at a guess approaching 20,000 to 30,000 static individual maps)
>>equalling any other website on the world wide web. So out of the tens of
>>thousands of maps (and hours) I finally publish one that got me fired....I
>>suppose the odds were going to run out eventually....
>>
>>I am concerned that other Federal researchers may easily make the same
>>mistakes I just made and should learn from my example what happens if
>>you're not careful.
>>
>>Patuxent was a great place to work, has amazing researchers and everybody I
>>worked with is very supportive.
>>
>> Ian Thomas
>>
>> Former Mapping Specialist at the:
>>GIS & Remote Sensing Unit
>>Biological Resources Division
>>United States Geological Survey
>>Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
>>
>>Old Homepage (no longer available)
>>http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/home.html
>>
>>The Global Environmental Atlas (no longer available)
> >http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/geotech/cindi/world.html
***************************************************************
Pamela M. Salela
Women's Studies and
Academic Resident Librarian
Miami University Libraries
350 King Library
Oxford, Ohio
Phone: (513) 529-1674
Fax: (513) 529-3110
http://staff.lib.muohio.edu/~salelapm/Womens_Studies/subject/
***************************************************************
--- End Forwarded Message ---
|
