Tools and Resources

The I&M initiative has created web-based tools to connect sources of information, eliminating the need to enter the same information multiple times. The I&M initiative’s commitment to integrated systems means that methods and protocols for biological surveys conducted on refuges are properly and securely documented and linked, resulting in collaboration through data sharing. 

 

For U.S. Fish and Wildlife Staff

Three integrated I&M information modules -- ServCat, PRIMR, and WRIA -- are available to Service employees at https://ecos.fws.gov/

• PRIMR stores the how, why, what, when and where of inventory and monitoring surveys. It gives refuge biologists a way to identify other types of surveys being performed across the Refuge System, and serves as the institutional knowledge for each refuge or field station.


• ServCat organizes and stores documents, including management plans, reports, tabular and geospatial data, and protocols. Historically important information that could be lost is now archived on a secure system.


• WRIA stores water resource information, streamlining the production of Water Resource Assessments and supporting refuge management of water resources.

These databases are housed on the Integrated Refuge Information System (IRIS). IRIS supports data collaboration across disciplines and with other agencies, helping to meet the goals of the President’s Open Data Initiative. http://www.whitehouse.gov/open