For Adamus, "Review" Apparently Doesn't Mean "Read"

Dr. Paul Adamus, a nationally recognized wetlands expert, was hired by San Juan County to perform a "Best Available Science Review for Wetlands and Wildlife Habitat Conservation Area" (see first page of his County contract at the bottom of this post). However, in the following email to Erik Stockdale of the State Department of Ecology, Adamus reveals that he doesn't actually have the time to read the 1,301 papers he cites as Best Available Science (BAS).

The BAS and accompanying BAS synthesis purportedly forms the basis for the County's strict new CAOs that are currently favored by the Council.

From: Paul Adamus [mailto:adamus7@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 7:14 AM
To: Stockdale, Erik (ECY)
Cc: Hruby, Tom (ECY)
Subject: sortable bibliographic database: wetlands, buffers, PNW, riparian, etc.

Hi Erik,

Attached is my latest working draft, containing 1,301 citations.  Obviously there's not enough time in my San Juan BAS project to read all of them!  But they're all very relevant to CAO science and I've read many.  As you can see, you can sort these by publication year, author, regional relevance, and topic.  So, if you wanted to see most of what's been published on, say, buffers and birds since 2004 in the Pacific Northwest, you can use Excel to sort this accordingly. 

To create this I weeded through citations in the Sheldon BAS and WDOE's subsequent bibliographic updates, my Island County BAS, San Juan County's list of local BAS, my ORWAP bibliography, and others -- picking ones I thought most relevant to CAO issues.  I also ran dozens of keyword combinations in Water Resources Abstracts and a couple other subscription databases, emphasizing post-Sheldon years (>2004).  To understand most of my codes, refer to the Explanations worksheet.  And of course I haven't been too fastidious or consistent with bibliographic syntax.

Enjoy...

Paul

----- Original Message -----

From: Stockdale, Erik (ECY)

To: Paul Adamus

Sent: Friday, November 05, 2010 11:16 AM

Subject: checking in

Hi Paul: I hope you are doing well…

Have you compiled a list of literature as part of your work in San Juan County? Would appreciate a copy, if and when you generate it. Many thanks, Erik

Erik Stockdale|Wetlands/401 Unit Supervisor|Department of Ecology| 425-649-7061| erik.stockdale@ecy.wa.gov

First page of the $99,420 San Juan County contract with
Paul Adamus to perform a Best Available Science Review