Ontario has been gathering scientific information on moose since the early 1950s. In 1975, an investment was made in funds and staff to reverse a declining moose population. It started a drive for high quality, standardized, and scientifically acceptable information. These systems evolved and were largely complete by 1997. Data was entered centrally, using standard routines that checked information where possible. Historic information was compiled.
Development of a Wildlife Management Information System was initiated in 1999 in response to the Y2K crisis. The intent was to have data entered once, manipulated through standard analysis to create one set of information products that would answer any question. It was to be a “corporate system” under the supervision of a database manager. It was never completed.
After an administrative reorganization of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) in the mid-1990s and the retirement of key staff, standard entry programs ceased for some information. Ironically, the computer programmer associated with the WMIS team was prohibited from further work on the project. Much of the information has never been compiled, let alone analyzed. Files obtained through the Freedom of Information Act have many errors. Files that were complete to 2001 are missing information. There are data files that current staff did not even know existed. Information on mortality from sources other than hunting is no longer collected. Internal reports, including proposals, option papers, plans and analysis are not systematically passed to the library where they can be easily accessed. This leaves a gap in the history of the development of the program that would benefit new managers.
This poster presents some charts that were intended products of WMIS. Its purpose is to show the (1) potential of a well-organized information system, (2) limitations and biases in data, and (3) the unspecified objectives in some OMNR data collection. If a truly useful information management system was established, it would cost little to maintain.