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<TITLE>SURVEY: CEC Invasives Survey - your help requested</TITLE>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Dear Colleague:</FONT>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">NatureServe Canada and NatureServe have been requested by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) (</FONT><A HREF="http://www.cec.org/"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">http://www.cec.org/</FONT></U></A><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">), an international organization created by Canada, Mexico and the United States under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC) to develop profiles for these three nations of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) data systems, the users of these data and their needs. An important outcome of this survey will be identification of the unmet needs for IAS data and barriers to accessing and sharing the data. The CEC will use this information to target removal of the barriers and to make more information widely available to combat the impacts and spread of IAS. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">To accomplish these goals, we have developed an online survey to collect information from<U> both</U> providers and users. We are asking two things of you: </FONT></P>
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<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Contribute your knowledge of IAS data, systems, and users, by following this link and responding to the survey (see below for what to expect in the survey): </FONT></LI>
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<P><A HREF="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nOVZcD_2brGR2HUBWKRSTfkw_3d_3d"><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Times New Roman">http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=nOVZcD_2brGR2HUBWKRSTfkw_3d_3d</FONT></U></A>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">2. Help this survey reach as many people as possible in the IAS community in Canada, Mexico and the United States, by forwarding this email to your organization’s major IAS data partners and/or collectors as well as people and/or organizations who use your (or other) IAS data. </FONT></P>
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<P><I><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">IAS data users can potentially include: land managers (wildlife biologists, forest managers; natural areas stewards), policy-makers, regulators (issue permits), early detection monitoring efforts, land use or development planners, researchers, or educators. </FONT></I></P>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">When you forward the email,<B> please include us on the CC</B> so we can know how the survey request has been disseminated.</FONT>
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<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">We request that you please complete the survey by April 4, 2008. </FONT></B>
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<P><I><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">If you have any questions, concerns, or insights about the survey, please contact Lynn Kutner at lynn_kutner@natureserve.org.</FONT></I></P>
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<P><B><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">What to expect in the Survey:</FONT></B>
<BR><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The Survey has several sections and has been designed to let you automatically skip sections that are not relevant to you as a user or provider of IAS data. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">The Survey includes a small number of</FONT><U> <FONT FACE="Times New Roman">required</FONT></U> <FONT FACE="Times New Roman">questions that are clearly indicated with an asterisk (*). However, we ask for your help with answering all the questions that you are able to.</FONT></P>
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<P><U><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Survey Contents</FONT></U><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">:</FONT>
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<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Introduction</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Glossary / Definitions of terms used in the survey</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">General Information (users and providers)</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Data Users (users only)</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Data Providers (providers only)</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Data Providers II - questions from the Heinz Center "Non-Native Species Database Survey" (providers only, can skip if previously responded to that survey)</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Standards and Data Models (users and providers)</FONT></LI>
<LI><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Technical (users and providers)</FONT></LI>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">And one final question asking for your comments.</FONT>
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<P><I><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Acknowledgements: This survey builds on previous surveys conducted by the Global Invasive Species Information Network (GISIN) and the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. Many thanks to these organizations for sharing their survey materials and insights.</FONT></I></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">If you have questions about this CEC IAS project, or would like to be informed of the results, please contact Judy Soule (</FONT><A HREF="mailto:judy_soule@natureserve.org"><U><FONT COLOR="#0048C0" FACE="Times New Roman">judy_soule@natureserve.org</FONT></U></A><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">; 703-908-1828).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Thank you in advance for your help and cooperation by responding to this survey.</FONT>
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<P><FONT FACE="Times New Roman">Lynn</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">Lynn Kutner</FONT>
<BR><I><FONT COLOR="#808080" SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">NatureServe</FONT></I>
<BR><FONT COLOR="#808080" SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">phone: (703) 797-4804</FONT>
<BR><FONT COLOR="#808080" SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">email: lynn_kutner@natureserve.org</FONT>
<BR><A HREF="http://www.natureserve.org/"><U></U><U><FONT COLOR="#0000FF" SIZE=2 FACE="Comic Sans MS">http://www.natureserve.org/</FONT></U></A>
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