The overarching goal is to build a CWD-community science and management communication platform to improve coordination, planning, and knowledge sharing. Efficient CWD surveillance, response, monitoring, and management requires coordination between neighboring states. Starting with the development of the shared data system and the continuance of partnership among stage wildlife agencies and non-government organization in the collaborative process, we can pool our resources and knowledge to improve our understanding of the ecology, epidemiology, and ultimately, management of CWD. The proposed product will be hosted by the CWD Alliance for long-term viability with a steering committee directing future products and tools. Our commitment to continued coordination with other interested parties will make this product a “one-stop shop” with the long-term aim to serve the entire U.S. and Canada.
However, efficient CWD information sharing and strategic coordination between neighboring states requires an established infrastructure, or “data language”, with which to communicate efficiently. By engaging a computer scientist, we can program linkages between various components and ensure there is full functionality between each piece. This will require custom software development to connect the state agency data to the Data Warehouse, which will then feed through a computational pipeline to the CWD Dashboard and back to state wildlife agencies for planning recommendations and progress reports.
