Data, Data, and More Data: Managing and Making Sense of Data from Existing PNW Salmon and Habitat Monitoring Programs

Abstract

Carol Volk will present an introduction to managing and understanding data. She will cover the following topics: 1. What is data? 2. Where is all the data? 3. What do we do with it? 4. Is it useful? As examples, she reviews two case studies: the Integrated Status and Effectiveness Monitoring Program (ISEMP) John Day water quality project, data dictionaries and the Pacific Northwest Salmon Habitat Restoration Project Tracking Database (http://webapps.nwfsc.noaa.gov/portal/page?_pageid=33,1&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL), and project coordination: restoration and project placement in Middle Fork John Day (MFJD) basin. 5. Should we do something with it? 6. Steps forward: making old and new data useful. Finally, she concludes with the following observations and recommendations: 1. The current methods of storing data are inefficient for regional analyses and conclusions. 2. Current datasets can be useful but take time. 3. Start small: organize once and analyze a thousand times.