Previous digest
Global Invasive Species Team listserve digest #159
Thu Feb 19 2009 - 08:55:02 PST
News from the Global Invasive Species Team
1. GIST and tncinvasives.org web site closing shop
Website Documents and Resources Needing New Homes
2. The future for WIMS and iMapInvasives?
3. The fate of GIST's tncinvasives.org web site resources
4. Terminating the GIST listserve
5. Invasipedia, we hardly knew ye!
6. ...and in closing
---------------------------------------------------------------
News from the Global Invasive Species Team
1. GIST and tncinvasives.org web site closing shop (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
As a result of budget cutbacks announced last week, The Nature Conservancy's Global Invasive Species Team (GIST) is being disbanded and will close down much of its work over the next few weeks and months.
Ramifications of this closure are the following:
A)This listserve will be closing in early March.
B)The GIST web site (http://tncinvasives.org) will no longer be supported as of March 6: after that date it will merely coast without updates. It may disappear entirely after August.
C)We hope that portions of the site can be relocated to other web sites--see messages 3-5 below if you can support the content.
D)Our new wiki (http://invasipedia.org) will no longer be monitored or supported, and so will be removed unless another organization offers to house and manage it (see message 5, below).
If you are interested in supporting some of the GIST web site resources on your own web site, please contact me immediately.
Meanwhile, TNC's Forest Health work focused on preventing and containing forest pests and pathogens has several years of secure funding and will continue; see its web site at http://dontmovefirewood.org.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Website Documents and Resources Needing New Homes
2. The future for WIMS and iMapInvasives? (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Mandy Tu (imtu(at)tnc.org)
With the end of TNC support for GIST, we will no longer be supporting the continued development and updating of WIMS (TNC's Weeds Information Management System). As long as the GIST website remains up at the UC Davis server, the WIMS Access files and support documents will still be available, but there is no technical support for the use of these tools, outside that already provided in a few state chapter field offices of The Nature Conservancy. Anyone or any organization that is interested in taking over the WIMS database files should contact me.
iMapInvasives however, will continue to be developed and promoted through the partnership of the NY and FL Heritage Programs and NatureServe. For information on the iMapInvasives statewide aggregator database, please contact Meg Wilkinson (mwilkinson(at)tnc.org).
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3. The fate of GIST's tncinvasives.org web site resources (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
Web managers of established sites should contact me if they can support the following large GIST web site resources. Many of these are already archived at compendium web sites such as ConserveOnline.org, but we would rather they be housed in more thematic, invasive species web sites. Major resources that require a loving, caring home are:
WIMS 3 (Weed Information Management System v3.0): (Contact Mandy Tu, imtu(at)tnc.org, for details)
Plant Management Documents (ESAs)
Weed Control Methods Handbook
Image Archive (but see note below, regarding Barry's photographs)
Global Weed List
If you wish to host other documents, such as our Weed Management Templates, sample outreach materials, tool reviews, red alerts, etc., please contact me!
Resources that have already been placed are:
-- Remote Sensing Tutorial will be moved to my own web site.
-- Image Archive photographs taken by Barry Rice are being supported on my own web site,
-- Spanish and Portuguese language documents to be housed at Instituto Horus
--The Gallery of Pests will be moved to the Don't Move Firewood web site.
Please note that while it would be simple to house the web site on a private domain (my own, for example!), it would be inappropriate to house an institutionally-associated, TNC web site on a private domain.
---------------------------------------------------------------
4. Terminating the GIST listserve (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
We WILL close down this listserve, and it is likely that this will be its last posting. If you wish to manage a similar listserve, contact me or John Randall (jarandall(at)ucdavis.edu) and we will discuss options. Rest assured that we will require that the keeper of any such new listserve will require your approval to add your name!
---------------------------------------------------------------
5. Invasipedia, we hardly knew ye! (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
Although it was just launched and was getting fabulous reviews, Invasipedia.org will probably be eliminated. The risk of having a wiki with absolutely no organizational oversight outweighs its usefulness. If you would like to continue the vision of Invasipedia, i.e., a place built upon the expertise of our plant management documents (ESAs) and updated by those who are actually working on the species, contact me immediately.
A note to wiki-geeks: Invasipedia is built on DokuWiki.
A note to others: If Invasipedia goes the way of the Caulerpa in California, you might find some satisfaction in the Bugwood wiki. Even though this site does not yet have species-by-species accounts of invasives, it could if you wanted it to! Support it and sites like it--the power of the wiki is AWESOME.
---------------------------------------------------------------
6. ...and in closing (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
I confidently speak for the entire Global Invasive Species team, when I say that it has been a pleasure working with you all. Keep up the good fight! Live long, and prosper.
News from the Global Invasive Species Team
1. GIST and tncinvasives.org web site closing shop
Website Documents and Resources Needing New Homes
2. The future for WIMS and iMapInvasives?
3. The fate of GIST's tncinvasives.org web site resources
4. Terminating the GIST listserve
5. Invasipedia, we hardly knew ye!
6. ...and in closing
---------------------------------------------------------------
News from the Global Invasive Species Team
1. GIST and tncinvasives.org web site closing shop (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
As a result of budget cutbacks announced last week, The Nature Conservancy's Global Invasive Species Team (GIST) is being disbanded and will close down much of its work over the next few weeks and months.
Ramifications of this closure are the following:
A)This listserve will be closing in early March.
B)The GIST web site (http://tncinvasives.org) will no longer be supported as of March 6: after that date it will merely coast without updates. It may disappear entirely after August.
C)We hope that portions of the site can be relocated to other web sites--see messages 3-5 below if you can support the content.
D)Our new wiki (http://invasipedia.org) will no longer be monitored or supported, and so will be removed unless another organization offers to house and manage it (see message 5, below).
If you are interested in supporting some of the GIST web site resources on your own web site, please contact me immediately.
Meanwhile, TNC's Forest Health work focused on preventing and containing forest pests and pathogens has several years of secure funding and will continue; see its web site at http://dontmovefirewood.org.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Website Documents and Resources Needing New Homes
2. The future for WIMS and iMapInvasives? (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Mandy Tu (imtu(at)tnc.org)
With the end of TNC support for GIST, we will no longer be supporting the continued development and updating of WIMS (TNC's Weeds Information Management System). As long as the GIST website remains up at the UC Davis server, the WIMS Access files and support documents will still be available, but there is no technical support for the use of these tools, outside that already provided in a few state chapter field offices of The Nature Conservancy. Anyone or any organization that is interested in taking over the WIMS database files should contact me.
iMapInvasives however, will continue to be developed and promoted through the partnership of the NY and FL Heritage Programs and NatureServe. For information on the iMapInvasives statewide aggregator database, please contact Meg Wilkinson (mwilkinson(at)tnc.org).
---------------------------------------------------------------
3. The fate of GIST's tncinvasives.org web site resources (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
Web managers of established sites should contact me if they can support the following large GIST web site resources. Many of these are already archived at compendium web sites such as ConserveOnline.org, but we would rather they be housed in more thematic, invasive species web sites. Major resources that require a loving, caring home are:
WIMS 3 (Weed Information Management System v3.0): (Contact Mandy Tu, imtu(at)tnc.org, for details)
Plant Management Documents (ESAs)
Weed Control Methods Handbook
Image Archive (but see note below, regarding Barry's photographs)
Global Weed List
If you wish to host other documents, such as our Weed Management Templates, sample outreach materials, tool reviews, red alerts, etc., please contact me!
Resources that have already been placed are:
-- Remote Sensing Tutorial will be moved to my own web site.
-- Image Archive photographs taken by Barry Rice are being supported on my own web site,
-- Spanish and Portuguese language documents to be housed at Instituto Horus
--The Gallery of Pests will be moved to the Don't Move Firewood web site.
Please note that while it would be simple to house the web site on a private domain (my own, for example!), it would be inappropriate to house an institutionally-associated, TNC web site on a private domain.
---------------------------------------------------------------
4. Terminating the GIST listserve (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
We WILL close down this listserve, and it is likely that this will be its last posting. If you wish to manage a similar listserve, contact me or John Randall (jarandall(at)ucdavis.edu) and we will discuss options. Rest assured that we will require that the keeper of any such new listserve will require your approval to add your name!
---------------------------------------------------------------
5. Invasipedia, we hardly knew ye! (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
Although it was just launched and was getting fabulous reviews, Invasipedia.org will probably be eliminated. The risk of having a wiki with absolutely no organizational oversight outweighs its usefulness. If you would like to continue the vision of Invasipedia, i.e., a place built upon the expertise of our plant management documents (ESAs) and updated by those who are actually working on the species, contact me immediately.
A note to wiki-geeks: Invasipedia is built on DokuWiki.
A note to others: If Invasipedia goes the way of the Caulerpa in California, you might find some satisfaction in the Bugwood wiki. Even though this site does not yet have species-by-species accounts of invasives, it could if you wanted it to! Support it and sites like it--the power of the wiki is AWESOME.
---------------------------------------------------------------
6. ...and in closing (Global, Planet Earth)
From: Barry Rice (brice(at)tnc.org)
I confidently speak for the entire Global Invasive Species team, when I say that it has been a pleasure working with you all. Keep up the good fight! Live long, and prosper.