Building Community Capacity Through Data Sharing

Building Community Capacity Through Data Sharing William Elliott Principle, GeoBorealis & Don Morgan, Executive Director, Northwest Data Sharing Network

Outline • Evolution of community based data management • Historic • Current • Gap • Response • Implementation of community based data sharing • Successes and challenges of community based data sharing • Summary

Evolution - Past • Paper submission of activities: • Recreation tenures • Forestry • Local government inventory staff • Provide local data coordination • Provide coordination with province • Contribute to infrastructure

Evolution - Current • Transition to new systems • Centralization: • Central government data warehouse • No local government inventory staff • No local data management • Forestry - electronic submission

Evolution - Gap • Lack of Local Community Data Management Capacity: • Data Replication • Duplication of Effort • increased costs for users and producers • Lack of Standards and Integration • Overall lack of Co-ordination

Evolution - Response • Establish a local community based shared data node • Implement collaborative organizational structures - governance • Co-ordinate projects among diverse groups that have joint interests • Promote a Data Ethic

Northwest Example • Northwest Data Sharing Network • Local data sharing • Community based

Central vs. Local • Local (NWDSN): • Local Level/Trust • Business Relationships • Organize and Share • TSA/LRMP/IFPA/FN • Business Processes • Project Data • Local Contact • User Perspective • Central (LRDW): • Provincial Level/Trust • Corporate Relationships • Source/Access/Retrieval • Province Wide • Standards & Infrastructure • Corporate Data • Provincial Contact • Custodian Perspective

Mission of NWDSN Timely, co-ordinated, co-operative, and innovative use of geo-spatial data sets to reduce the cost of data ownership and improve decision-making about land use in our region.

Drivers • Shared costs and benefits • Data inventory co-management • Land use monitoring – plan monitoring • Criteria indicator management - certification • Species and habitat monitoring - SARA • First Nation accommodation

Participants Members • Industry: Canfor, West Fraser, Babine Timber Sales • First Nations: Wet’suwet’un • Government: Skeena Region ILMB, Skeena-Stikine Forest District Partners • University of Northern BC • Northwest Community College • Bulkley Valley Centre for Natural Resource Research and Management • WALP

Extent • Current : • Morice • We’suwet’en • Lakes • Bulkley • Kispiox • Future: • Gitanyow • Kalum

Common Interests • sharing information • collaboration • Sustainable Forest Management • Land Use Planning • IFPA • Operational forestry • First Nation Accommodation

Implementation • Background Research • What’s worked elsewhere? • Establish Governance • Data Survey • Who has what? • What format is it in? • Load Data to Service Provider • Enable Data Viewing and Exchange

Research • Lessons from Established Data Collaborations: • Governance must be set up front • Policies must be formalized • Define Roles and Responsibilities upfront • Leadership must be encouraged • Complexity of the Operations must be reduced

Governance • What makes it work! • Clearly identify the business need • Form society before implementation • board membership • Develop trust • Keep it simple • Formalize policy structures • manage expectations • Business Planning - Business Case

Governance • Data sharing policy defines: • Custodianship • permissions - user/data specific • non-member access • membership • funding • rules and regulations • external partnerships

Accomplishments • Organizational • Governance established • Board of directors • Technical committee • Partnerships • UNBC, NWCC • BV Centre • IT companies • Membership Funding

Accomplishments • Technical • Inventory identification • Data loading • Data modeling • Data viewing • Inventory coordination – blocks and roads

NWDSN Challenges • Linking ILMB Local and Corporate Levels • Improving trust at all levels of organization • Risk, a fact of partnerships and new business • Government Policy Uncertainty • Funding • Slow Technical Implementation • Need for dedicated staff • Participant access to government infrastructure

Summary • Need for a balance between central and local data management • Local organization • brings together common interests • builds community level capacity • Sharing of knowledge and challenges • Local advocacy and coordination

Questions?

Building Community Capacity Through Data Sharing