DESIGN OF COMPUTERIZED FISH AND 

 WILDLIFE SPECIES DATA BASES BY 



STATE AND FEDERAL AGENCIES 

 Charles T. Cushwa and Calvin W. DuBrock 



INTRODUCTION 



At the beginning of the decade there was no coordinated national, regional or 

 statewide effort to bring together information on aquatic and terrestrial vertebrate 

 and invertebrate species of fish and wildlife in a comprehensive computerized data 

 base. Agencies with fish and wildlife directives were primarily concerned with 

 "featured" species management and inventory or "featured" groups of animals, like 

 waterfowl, anadromous fish, big game, furbearers, and farm game, because much of 

 the fish and wildlife philosophy was oriented toward the early classical works that 

 emphasized game management. '-^ in addition, prestigious work like the International 

 Biological Program alao was functionally oriented. Fish and wildlife information 

 was collected under diverse conditions for a variety of reasons and integrated, as best 

 possible, into a data base to perform comprehensive, complex ecosystem analysis. 

 Results from these early efforts were not very rewarding. It became increasingly 

 evident to the makers of agency policies and decisions, as well as to the Congress, that 

 a piecemeal approach to fish and wildlife data base management constituted partial 

 analysis of the resource. To address this problem. Congress passed new legislation in 

 the late 1960s and early 1970s, which required an ecological perspective for assessing 

 the environmental consequences of major land use and management actions. 



This new legislation required consistent and accurate inventories and assessments 

 of fish and wildlife species, populations, and habitats in order to meet multiple user 

 needs. ^ Early efforts to respond to these laws indicated that data was not available for 

 many species, and existing information was scattered in professional journals, 

 museum notes, and research records.'* It became obvious that the existing data must 

 be gathered in central data bases for effective use in environmental analysis, land use 

 planning and management. 



The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 focused attention on the need for 

 more complete and readily accessible information about wild animal resources. 

 Compiling information on numerous animals in the preparation of environmental 

 impact statements or environmental analyses led to the need to manage information 

 about fish and wildlife in a more cost-effective manner, hence, to design and develop 

 some computerized fish and wildlife species data bases. 



The Authors: Dr. Charles T. Cushwa is Senior Wildlife Biologist with the Eastern Energy and Land Use 

 Team (EELUT), Office of Biological Services, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Kearneysvilie, WV While with 

 the U.S. Forest Service, one of his major accomplishments included assisting in the design and 

 implementation of the 1975 and 1980 National Assessments of Fish and Wildlife Resources, covering 1.6 

 billion acres of forest and rangeland. 



Mr. Calvin W DuBrock is an Ecologist with the Eastern Energy and Land Use Team (EELUT) and 

 previously worked as a survey statistician for the U.S. Department of Energy. He presently is involved with 

 developing automated species data bases for wildlife plannmg and management and has contributed to the 

 development and implementation of many statewide data bases. 



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