In an influential report to the President in 2011, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) laid out a strategy for leveraging environmental data to sustain our nation's environmental capital. The PCAST report recognized that improved management of biodiversity and ecosystem services requires focused efforts to integrate and utilize relevant data held by many different agencies. Since that report, Federal bureaus have been working diligently to realize this vision through the Ecoinformatics-based Open Resources and Machine Accessibility (EcoINFORMA) initiative. It is now time to more formally engage with non-profits, universities, local and state governments, and the private sector to leverage environmental data across the nation to achieve a sustainable environment for our nation’s future. http://www.natureserve.org/news-events/events/promoting-synergy-innovative-use-environmental-data
