U.S.G.S. - Patuxent Wildlife Research Center
Bird Banding Laboratory
12100 Beech Forest Road STE-4037
Laurel, MD 20708-4037
September 24, 1998

Dear Bander:

As you know, the review of the North American Bird Banding program has been completed. The review panel's final report and recommendations, The North American Bird Banding Program: Into the 21st Century, was announced in MTAB 82. The Report can be accessed electronically at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/nabbpcvr.htm, or a hard copy can be obtained from The Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL). An interagency Implementation Team comprised of senior level officials was established to consider recommendations from the Report and to guide improvements to the banding program and operations of the BBL.

To start the improvement process, the Implementation Team identified six priority areas in which to focus efforts. They were: Data Release Policy, Permit Policies and Procedures, Electronic Data Management, Recapture/Resighting Data, Ancillary Data, and Location Data. The Team then appointed six Task Forces to refine panel recommendations in these focal areas, and to develop specific plans for implementation. The Team, in consultation with BBL, considers the Task Force recommendations relative to the review panel's Report, and to agency needs, policies and resources. The Team then makes final decisions for BBL to implement and communicate to banders. We are at this latter stage for most focal areas, and herein we wish to begin communicating results to you, starting with Data Release Policy.

The Data Release Task Force was charged with developing a contemporary policy on the release and use of banding data for the U.S. and Canada. Many aspects of data release were considered and extensively discussed: past and current policy, banders' proprietary interests, federal interests of both the U.S. and Canada, professional ethics and courtesy, data for endangered and threatened species, potential differences in dissemination of game and nongame data, and improved methods for notifying banders when their banded birds have been encountered and reported to BBL. And significantly, the Task Force considered new opportunities for data management afforded by computer technology. The Task Force also consulted the US Department of Interior for legal guidance on the relevance of the U.S. Federal Freedom of Information (FOIA) and Privacy Acts to federal databases.

The Implementation Team accepted the Data Release Task Force's recommendations, and the following policies are established. These changes and policies are effective immediately, or as soon as technological developments permit their implementation, but no later than October, 2000.

Policy-Release of Banding Data: The law (FOIA) requires that we furnish banding data to anyone who may request them. Full and open release and use of banding and encounter data will be our policy. Banding and encounter data will be made available to users as soon as possible after being entered into the BBL databases. Databases will be updated at least quarterly and more often if feasible. Data will be made available over the Internet as soon as practical, but no later than October 1, 2000. Banding records will be provided in summary format; encounter records will consist of the full banding record plus the encounter data. Individual banding records will not be directly accessible through the Internet, but will be made available from BBL upon special request.

Full release of banding data is in keeping with the requirement of making most information from federal agencies as available to the public as possible. This open data policy is established, because banding and encounter data have been contributed by many cooperators at considerable public expense, and because we hope that maximum use of banding data will benefit migratory bird conservation and the ornithological community.

We plan to make the data easy to access, retrieve, and summarize over the Internet by developing appropriate relational database tools and utilities to assist users. BBL and Canadian Bird Banding Office (BBO) staff will also be available to advise people on obtaining and using banding data. Data will continue to be supplied free of charge. BBL and BBO will strive to maintain the highest accuracy feasible in all data sets through data editing and correction. We will encourage users of the data to notify us of potential errors so that we may research those records and correct them as needed.

Policy-Proprietary Interests of Banders: An open, full release policy with easy access to data naturally raises concerns about the proprietary interests of banders who collected the data. While we cannot withhold data to protect the interests of individual banders, we are committed to actively promoting professional courtesy, ethics and the highest scientific integrity in the use of banding data collected by others. To this end, we invite your participation in the development of voluntary guidelines for the use of banding data. Please send comments or ideas regarding what should be included in guidelines to Kathy Klimkiewicz (Kathy_Klimkiewicz@usgs.gov) at BBL by November 15, 1998. BBO is consulting Canadian banders on the same matter, and their input will be included in the guidelines as well. We are also inviting the full and active support of the North American Banding Council (NABC) in developing voluntary guidelines for the use of banding data.

Once we have your input, we will finalize the guidelines, and convey them to you and to data requestors. We will also convey them to the major ornithological and wildlife journal editors, as well as to scientific and professional societies, and conservation agencies. We will explain the guidelines and their relation to our policies on data release, and we will encourage these entities to ensure that banding data are fairly, professionally and ethically used in their publications and reports. The role of both individual banders and these external entities is critical, because the BBL and BBO do not have authority to police professional ethics regarding the use and reporting of scientific data. This should be done through peer review processes controlled by the broader scientific and conservation communities through the monitoring of publications and the application of peer pressure as appropriate and necessary.

In addition to developing guidelines for the use of banding data, we will develop new, expedient (electronic) procedures to send data promptly to banders when recoveries of their birds are reported. This will help assure that the bander sees his or her noteworthy recoveries first.

Policy-Bander Names and Addresses: We envision that the guidelines will strongly encourage data users to acknowledge the banders who collected the data, and to contact banders who may be reasonably expected to retain a proprietary interest in the data (and thus, might want the opportunity to influence how their data are used, or to assist in the interpretation of them). To facilitate such contacts, BBL will make permittee names, addresses, and e-mail addresses publicly available. As with the banding data, this information is in the public domain and subject to release under FOIA in the U.S. BBL will develop a database of permittee names and addresses, and make it accessible over the Internet linked via permit number to the banding database which, as discussed above, will also be accessible over the Internet. Only willing banders will have their names and addresses included in the Internet database. At an appropriate time, we will contact banders (both active and inactive) for permission to list their names and addresses on the Internet. After this initial survey, we will incorporate this query into the permit renewal process and the application for new permits. We encourage all banders to have their names and addresses listed in our Internet database. Easy accessibility to bander names and addresses will promote ethical use of banding data.

Policy-Protection of Sensitive Species: Another common concern is protecting the nesting sites of threatened, endangered or otherwise sensitive species, especially raptors. Banding location data for sensitive species will be suppressed in the Internet database. Persons wanting exact banding locations for sensitive species will be directed to contact the appropriate banding office. Exact location data may be released routinely by BBL and BBO to federal, state or provincial agencies for management purposes. Others will be required to formally request the data. Under provisions of FOIA, BBL ultimately must furnish the data, but it is hoped that requiring a formal request will provide an opportunity to negotiate proper and ethical use of the data. BBO will handle requests involving Canadian data in coordination with BBL and in compliance with Canadian regulations.

Thank you for taking time to consider our new policies regarding the release and use of banding data. We think that they are well founded and match contemporary needs and opportunities. Very soon we will be communicating results from other Task Force deliberations. We look forward to working with you to improve operations of the BBL and the broader North American bird banding program.

Sincerely,

John Tautin

Chief, Bird Banding Laboratory