What's New: To receive these updates and announcements by email, manage your subscription, or review the mailing list archive, go to the NCSE List User Form. National Research Council Endorses NEON but Recommends Restructuring September 25, 2003 - The fate of the proposed National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) remains in limbo in the face of conflicting signals from the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the National Research Council (NRC).  The National Science Foundation (NSF) proposed NEON as a national network of observatories that would allow continental-scale experimental and observational research on the ecological systems of the United States.   The House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that would provide $12 million in initial funding for NEON in FY 2004.  The Senate version of the bill would not provide any funding for NEON in FY 2004.  In reconciling the differences, Congress is likely to be influenced by the National Research Council (NRC) report that was released on September 17, 2003.   The NRC committee "strongly supports the creation of a NEON-like program and commends NSF's overall vision for NEON."  A nationwide network such as NEON would enable environmental research "that would otherwise be impractical or impossible due to logistical constraints."  According to the report, "The scientific advances made possible by NEON would allow forecasting of the effects of alternative environmental policies and actions." The NRC report recommends restructuring the NEON proposal around six major environmental challenges identified by the committee rather than 17 ecosystem types as proposed by NSF, stating: "To establish a coordinated, efficient, and truly nationwide network, the committee suggests that NSF structure NEON according to the environmental challenges to be addressed rather than by locating one site in each ecosystem type represented in the United States.  Thus NEON would consist of a total of six ‘observatories' (rather than 17), one for each of the six environmental challenges."  The six environmental challenges identified by the committee are biodiversity, species composition and ecosystem functioning; ecological aspects of biogeochemical cycles; ecological implications of climate change; ecology and evolution of infectious diseases; invasive species; and land use and habitat alteration.   Under NSF's current plan, "a NEON network would be built gradually via funding of one or two regional observatories at a time.  Thus, NEON would not be a truly national network of sites until all the observatories are funded and built, which could take more than a decade," according to the NRC report.  The report recommends a different approach:  "Each NEON observatory should be initiated as a nationwide network of facilities and infrastructure designed by a coalition of many multi-investigator, multi-disciplinary teams from across the nation to address optimally one of the six major environmental challenges."   According to Congressional sources, the changes proposed in the NRC report will make NEON a prime target for funding cuts as Congress tries to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the NSF appropriations bill.   NEON would be the first biological sciences project to be funded through NSF's Major Research Equipment and Facilities Construction account, which typically provides funding for facilities that will cost between $50 million and $200 million.  The anticipated cost for NEON, as proposed by NSF, is shown in the following table: Table 1.  NEON Funding Profile (Dollars in Millions) Concept/Development Implementation Operations & Maintenance Totals Grand Totals R&RA MREFC R&RA MREFC R&RA MREFC R&RA MREFC FY 1996 & Earlier                         FY 1997                         FY 1998 0.01             $0.01    $0.01 FY 1999 0.03             $0.03    $0.03 FY 2000 0.17             $0.17    $0.17 FY 2001 0.10             $0.10    $0.10 FY 2002 1.00             $1.00    $1.00 FY 2003 Req          12.00 3.00 $3.00 $12.00 $15.00 FY 2004 Req          12.00 6.00 $6.00 $12.00 $18.00 FY 2005 Est          16.00 6.00 $6.00 $16.00 $22.00 FY 2006 Est¹          20.00 9.00 $9.00 $20.00 $29.00 FY 2007 Est¹          20.00 12.00 $12.00 $20.00 $32.00 FY 2008 Est¹          20.00 15.00 $15.00 $20.00 $35.00 Subtotal, R&RA $1.31          $51.00 $52.31       Subtotal, MREFC          $100.00       $100.00    Total, Each Phase $1.31 $100.00 $51.00   $152.31 Source:  National Science Foundation.   The NRC report can be accessed online at:   www.nap.edu/catalog/10807.html.    The NSF NEON project website is:  http://www.nsf.gov/bio/neon/start.htm

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