From west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Dec 11 12:02:14 2014 From: west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 12:02:14 -0800 Subject: [West Coast Ocean Data Network] Happy Holidays from the West Coast Ocean Data Network! Message-ID: Happy Holidays West Coast Ocean Data Network, I hope everyone is staying safe and warm as storms batter the West Coast! As we wrap up the year there are a lot of accomplishments that we can look back on. From the amazing oceanographic data products created by our Sea Grant Fellow Laura Lilly , to our Network meeting in November , and the launch of data visualization tools in the Portal ? it has been a big year for the West Coast Ocean Data Network and that is because of all your support and contributions. We hope to do even more in the coming year with your help. Please see below for some last announcements and action items of 2014. Have a safe and happy holiday! *Portal User Feedback Surveys * We are still seeking feedback on the Catalog, Viewer, and Networking tools to help us improve their use and functionality. If you have 5 minutes, please complete and share the following surveys with colleagues before *Dec. 15*. 1. Catalog Survey 2. Viewer Survey 3. Network Survey *Working Groups* In the interest of expanding membership and leadership of the working groups we are advertising the upcoming meetings of the Data and Outreach working groups next week. The Outreach working group will be helping craft our messaging for the upcoming Ocean Summit, the Data working group will be prioritizing data for funded development based on Network (your!) needs and the IT working group will be recommending platforms to share training resources and prioritizing bugs and enhancements for the Portal. *The Outreach call is 12/17 at 1 pm, the Data call is 12/18 at 3 pm, and the IT call is 1/9 at 1 pm*. You find out all the details and call info on our Calendar page. *Network meeting Proceedings* Our Network meeting was a huge success in shaping our strategy for the coming year in terms of focal areas and data priorities. You can read the full proceedings and get access to all the presentations here. *Contact* You can visit the West Coast Ocean Data Portal at *http://portal.westcoastoceans.org* . If you wish to learn more or contribute your data to the Portal, please contact Todd Hallenbeck (*Todd.r.hallenbeck at Westcoastoceans.org* ). -- Todd R. Hallenbeck | Program Coordinator West Coast Ocean Data Portal West Coast Governors Alliance Cell: (408) 482-6807 todd.r.hallenbeck at westcoastoceans.org http://portal.westcoastoceans.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: wcodn_logo_color_web.png Type: image/png Size: 60679 bytes Desc: not available URL: From west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us Thu Dec 11 14:03:56 2014 From: west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us (west_coast_data_network at listsmart.osl.state.or.us) Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 22:03:56 +0000 Subject: [West Coast Ocean Data Network] FW: Ocean funding update - Good news from Congress In-Reply-To: <67226FA410377E47BADA742D291EE9E70216B669@tocex2.toc.oceanconservancy.org> References: <67226FA410377E47BADA742D291EE9E70216B669@tocex2.toc.oceanconservancy.org> Message-ID: Hooray! On 12/11/14, 4:55 PM, "Anne Merwin" > wrote: Dear Colleagues: Earlier this year, you signed onto a letter(s) asking Congress to support funding for Regional Ocean Partnerships and smart ocean planning, and/or to oppose any legislative riders that would undermine the National Ocean Policy and ongoing ocean planning efforts. As you may have heard, yesterday Congress released a final Fiscal Year 2015 spending bill that would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year (September 2015). This so-called "CROmnibus" bill is slated to be voted on today or tomorrow, and although it is not guaranteed to pass (leadership is still wrangling votes as we speak), I wanted to share some good news about what the bill contains. 1. Attempts to undermine the National Ocean Policy and ongoing ocean planning efforts failed. While a requirement that the National Ocean Council report to Congress on its activities is included, there is no language in the deal that harms any of the important work going on under the NOP, including smart ocean planning. This is a significant victory, since going into final negotiations there had been three different anti-NOP riders in the House versions of bills, and none of these made it through despite the final deal?s inclusion of a large number of other policy riders. 2. The bill includes the full $5 million for Regional Coastal Resilience Grants that was requested in the President?s Budget, and that hundreds of ocean users and supporters (including you) asked for earlier this year. This is an important victory after a tough year in 2014, when we lost the grant money that had previously supported this work. It is also worth noting that this is a rare funding increase in a world where most government programs have either just held even or decreased. These are big wins, and it speaks volumes for the importance of the work going on in regions around the country, and for the breadth and depth of stakeholder support. I also wanted to note that Ocean programs in general fared well throughout the CRomnibus: ? NOAA?s $5.4 billion budget for FY15 includes an overall increase of $126 million ? The National Ocean Service and National Marine Fisheries Service each received increases of $10 million ? Ocean acidification research received $8.5 million, a $2.5 million increase over the current funding A direct result of your support, these funding increases and policy rider victories will help support communities that depend on ocean resources, while ensuring that coordinated smart ocean planning processes move forward. Thank you again for all of your engagement and effort, and we look forward to continuing to work with you to support smart ocean management in the new year. Best regards, Anne [http://www.oceanconservancy.org/assets/oc_logo_mailsignature.jpg] Anne Merwin Director Coastal & Marine Spatial Planning O: 202.280.6208 M: 240.498.3813 1300 19th Street NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036 amerwin at oceanconservancy.org Web | Facebook | Twitter -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 31086 bytes Desc: image001.jpg URL: