Cost of ATBI--Response to Norm
From pick@pick.uga.edu Thu Jun 10 10:49 EDT 1999
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 10:02:25 -0400
To: dl@pick.uga.edu, wfharris@utk.edu, Johnson.2@osu.edu, tkiernan@npca.org,
Keith_Langdon@nps.gov, lowe@opie.bgsu.edu,
SMARSHALL@evbhort.uoguelph.ca, grsm_friends_of_grsm_np@nps.gov,
becky_nichols@nps.gov, Chuck_Parker@nps.gov, msharkey@byron.ca.uky.edu,
pswhite@unc.edu, mjwillia@tricon.net, wilson.don@nmnh.si.edu
Subject: Cost of ATBI -- Response to Norm
Norm,
Thanks for your criticism. I've clearly opened a hornets nest. I
apologize if I've unintentionally stepped out of line and have a different
recollection of our Board meeting.
After nearly two years of planning, we need to know the scope and cost of
the project that we are running. While I very much value your opinion,
rather than nailing me point by point, I would prefer that you contruct an
estimate and share it with us. If my estimate of 100 species per
taxonomist is a starting point, what is your refinement? How many
taxonomists do we need to do all taxa? Could you do the family Scelionidae
for $100K or could you do just the genus Telenomus? If not, what will it
cost to get the job done? In short, I'm asking you and everyone else to
send in their best estimates so that we can move from hand-waving to a
rational strategic planning process and budget. My estimate is over $100M.
Dan's was $90M for the ACG. How can we refine these estimates?
I will post ALL messages, even critical of me, on our website. Link to
"Great Smokies" then "Planning" then "Strategic Planning and Budget." We
should be open about our differences of opinions, debate them, and try to
reach consensus. This is not dirty linen. It is the early stages of
building a strategic plan. We're on the same team. By using the web, we
can include the public, press, agencies, everyone in this process. If
folks are part of it, they are more likely to support our eventual course
of action. If we are isolated and secretive as a Board, we will fail to
generate the huge amount of support that we will need to complete a
successful ATBI.
Again thanks.
Cheers,
Pick
>Date: Thu, 10 Jun 1999 09:28:45 -0400
>From: "Norman F. Johnson"
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>To: John Pickering
>Subject: Re: Cost of ATBI
>
>Dear John,
>
>You asked us to respond to this matter, so I will do so. I don't mind
>if you forward or post this e-mail as long as all comments are included.
>
>You seem to have unintentionally or purposely confounded several issues
>here. First, you wrote to Keith:
>
>> No team decision has been taken regarding our strategic plan or budget, so
>> I am hardly breaking ranks.
>
>This is absolutely incorrect. The Board of Discover Life in America
>decided that we should NOT throw around budget estimates precisely
>because we have not yet reached the stage where we can do so with any
>confidence. We specifically agreed that questions about the total cost
>of an ATBI could not be answered directly until we have gone through the
>strategic planning process.
>
>> My recollection of the Board's response to my
>> $25M+ per year estimate for the ATBI was that we may not be able to raise
>> that amount, not that it was an unreasonable estimate to fund the taxonomy
>> that we need.
>
>You recollect incorrectly. The Board did think that $25M+ is a totally
>unreasonable number, for both scientific, fiscal, and morale reasons.
>
>You continue to misquote me:
>
>> If we estimate that it will
>> take 1,000 taxonomists to clean up the names of 100,000 species, something
>> that Norm, Mike, and I feel is a reasonable estimate, then we need to plan
>> to fund that many.
>
>In that phone conversation, you asked me how many species a single
>taxonomist could be responsible for. I told you that the number would
>vary greatly, depending upon the taxon and the taxonomist. You
>suggested 100. I said that that was a starting point. I did not say it
>was a reasonable estimate, and I do not endorse the notion that the ATBI
>will therefore require the efforts of 1,000 taxonomists.
>
>You insist that taxonomists will require the following in order to
>participate:
>
>> I think that $25K per year is a reasonable amount to
>> fund a graduate student, travel, and minimal supplies, though I admit that
>> you might be able to low-ball it and get some taxonomists to work for $15K
>> per year.
>
>As far as I can tell, this estimate is based only on anecdotal comments.
>More importantly, your comment
>
>> The taxonomists that I know
>> are not willing to commit to a project of such limited scope. They can
>> each get more money working elsewhere. Most taxonomists are looking for
>> funding and not to volunteer in the Smokies.
>
>misses the point entirely. You were much closer to the truth at the
>first planning meeting in Gatlinburg in December, 1997, i.e., that the
>project will only succeed if we can discover ways to find convergence in
>the scientific and personal agendas of all the people involved. If a
>scientist studies the systematics of South American ground beetles, then
>no amount of money is going to entice that person to study the beetles
>in the Smokies. Taxonomists, including me, are not scouting the field,
>looking for the best financial incentive in order to determine our
>research. Those research agendas are already set; I'm looking for
>funding that will enable me to do the work that I already want to do.
>The dollar amount that will persuade me to put that effort into this
>project is very soft, and other issues, e.g., logistics, organization,
>being part of a larger community effort, are of equal and critical
>importance.
>
>> This is a huge,
>> magnificent undertaking with major payoffs to the Park, science, and
>> society. We must stop hiding the real cost. Yes, we will have volunteers
>> and contributions from scientists that are not in our budgeted cost, sweat
>> equity in Dan's lingo, but I fear that underestimating or low-balling our
>> budget at this point will result in the taxonomists, funding sources, and
>> others not taking us seriously.
>
>Apparently, you didn't take the response of the Board to your numbers in
>the right spirit. As Keith noted, we have the potential to do just as
>much harm to our efforts by citing unattainable budget figures that are
>based on nothing more that random conversations with friends and
>acquaintances.
>
>> Once we agree on about what it will cost, then we can develop a strategic
>> plan to raise the money. While I feel that we will ultimately need over
>> $25M+ per year, I am quite aware that it will take 5 or more years to ramp
>> up to that level.
>
>You have misstated the point of the strategic planning proposed by the
>Board. It is not to figure out how to raise the dollar figure you have
>targeted, but rather to figure out first in some detail what needs to be
>done and when; from that process we will have a much better idea of the
>financing needed and a rational justification to present when seeking
>those funds.
>
>> I am copying this to our Board, taxonomy leaders, and others for general
>> consumption, because it is of such a critical concern to our credibility
>> and planning.
>
>May I strenuously object to this? We will have no credibility if we
>wash our dirty linen in public. That simply leads to a perception that
>the project is disorganized and has no concept of what it wants to do
>and how to go about doing it. The structure of Discover Life in America
>is supposed to be designed to achieve our goals; let's use that
>structure and not be copying everyone and their neighbor as we struggle
>in the process.
>
>> I hope you and they will respond and add better estimates to
>> the debate. In particular, I hope the taxonomists as a 1,000 member
>> community will tell us what it will cost for them to participate and
>> succeed. I will post this and everyones response on our website.
>>
>> Let our strategic planning begin.
>
>This is NOT the strategic planning process that we discussed in the
>Board meeting in May. I suggest that we actually try to work as a team
>to further the goals of DLIA rather than undercutting each other in
>public and in the press.
>
>--
>Norman F. Johnson Johnson.2@osu.edu
>Associate Professor Phone: 614-292-6595
>Director, Ohio State Univ. Fax: 614-292-7774
> Insect Collection
>
| Discover Life in America | Science | Strategic Plan & Budget | John PIckering - 10 June, 1999 |