Data Management
The central mission of the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program is to acquire, manage, analyze, and distribute scientific information on the status and trends of specific park natural resources. Proper data management is critical for preserving the security, integrity and reliability of data. Our program emphasizes data management as integral to our monitoring efforts, and all phases of data handling (collection, entry, review, summarization, archival) have prescribed tasks that are detailed in our Data Management Plan. The goal of our data management program is to maintain, in perpetuity, the ecological data and related analyses that result from the Network’s resource inventory and monitoring work.
In general, data management procedures follow five key steps: acquisition, verification, validation, analysis and dissemination (see graphic). Storage, maintenance and security issues apply to all stages of this data flow. Further general guidance regarding data management procedures is contained in the Network Data Management Plan whereas project-specific data descriptions and procedures may be found in the monitoring protocols. A database of I&M Program monitoring protocols is maintained at national I&M site.
Documents related to data management include: