Sage That with SageDAT
Are you a person professionally charged with, or otherwise financially, emotionally, or spiritually invested in, trying to conserve a special place on earth known as the “sagebrush ecosystem?”
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the complexity, urgency, and sheer magnitude of this challenge?
Do you find it difficult to gain access to the types of information and/or data that you may need in order to chip away at this goal across even a portion of the sagebrush biome’s sprawling 11-state range?
Would you like to be able to share the most up-to-date versions of your data, thereby improving access and discoverability, while preserving the privacy of your third-party collaborators like private landowners?
Do you think it’d be cool if you could do this all in one place?
It’s time to meet SageDAT.
SageDAT is a data-sharing platform that simplifies your search for new data, science, and tools developed for the sagebrush biome. It utilizes cutting edge, cloud-based technology to allow data owners to set up a virtual window into data that they want to be made visible. It’s your one-stop-shop for all the latest and greatest sagebrush-associated science.
Lief Wiechman is one of the founding fathers of SageDAT, along with colleagues from the U.S. Geological Survey and other groups. The project stems from Secretarial Order 3353, signed by then-Secretary Zinke.
“For many folks working in sagebrush, our attention is pulled in a number of different directions,” he says. “Whether it’s establishing partnerships, coordinating research efforts, or sharing new science, tools and products… it’s simply a lot of information to share. SageDAT is designed to help the sagebrush conservation community access or search the same pool of information in an easier and hopefully more efficient way.”
Gone are the days of querying multiple databases, websites, and human beings just to end up with an outdated collection of data or tools. SageDAT streamlines your ability to coordinate on conservation planning, delivery, and research.
“Take sensitive species information, for instance,” says Wiechman. “SageDAT allows data owners to maintain control of their information and grant specific user access in order to protect sensitive and proprietary location information, which alleviates impediments many of us have faced when participating in large-scale planning efforts. Data owners determine which of their data and tools are made available for download, discoverable, or those requiring special permissions.”
SageDAT also saves you time and money. It gives you easy access to the most current information, which increases the reliability of your work and can decrease your costs. It also reduces your need to track down information from a variety of data sources and partners, perhaps saving your sanity.
According to Wiechman, “This tool will enhance opportunities for additional collaboration. Rather than going to a dozen disparate sources and then trying to stitch everything together, you have it all right here. This may help reduce development of redundant or duplicative decision support tools in the future as well.”
SageDAT will be made available later this spring. For more information, contact Steve Hanser (shanser@usgs.gov) and Lief Wiechman (lief_wiechman@fws.gov).
Story by Jennifer Strickland (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) with support from Suzanna Soileau (U.S. Geological Survey).
