Contract-Related Information for Delta Stewardship Council

Contractors Recognition of Funding Source

Contractors must acknowledge funding from the Delta Stewardship Council (Council) and its Delta Science Program, and any partner organizations providing project funds, as specified in the agreement language, for any publication (including online webpages, in all public signage/materials, including exhibits, displays, and outreach products) of any material based on or developed under a project funded by the Council. Support must also be orally acknowledged during all news media interviews, including radio, television, and news magazines.

Contractors may use this language for written materials:

“This project was supported by an agreement with the Delta Science Program, Delta Stewardship Council (DSC contract [#]). Funding was provided by the Delta Science Program, and activities were supported by [Contractor and/or collaborators]. The contents may not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the State of California.”

Delta Science Tracker

https://sciencetracker.deltacouncil.ca.gov/

The Delta Science Tracker is a tool to enhance the coordination and collaboration of scientific activities, benefiting scientists, decision-makers, and managers within the Delta. This platform enables users to access and visualize recent research and monitoring initiatives by examining science activities, affiliated organizations, and individuals involved. Its primary purpose is to facilitate communication, foster collaborative opportunities, and improve transparency regarding science funding sources and decisions.

Project Information should be added to the Delta Science Tracker on an ongoing basis as soon as content is available throughout the course of the contract term.

Engagement and Communication

Effective science communication works best when it’s more than a one‑way transfer of information. Instead of sharing results only after a project is finished, the Delta Science Program encourages researchers to build ongoing, intentional relationships with the people who will use their work—such as natural resource managers, community members, and other interested parties.

This approach asks researchers to plan early and think broadly about how to connect with their audiences. At the start of a project, researchers should:

  1. Identify the specific audiences who will benefit from or be affected by the work.
  2. Develop clear messages and choose communication methods that are well‑matched to those audiences.
  3. Establish ways to measure whether their engagement efforts are effective.

Every engagement plan should outline the project’s communication goals, the intended audience(s), how and how often engagement will occur, what communication tools or media will be used, and how success will be evaluated.

DSP recommends using this template: Delta Science Program Engagement and Communication Template

Resources:

Data Management

Data management should be consistent with the following open data principles:

  • Alignment with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable (machine readable), Reusable).
  • Standard data and metadata formats are used for similar data types.
  • Quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures are documented and followed.
  • Appropriate steps have been taken to protect human subjects and Tribal data (e.g., Institutional Review Board (IRB) review).
  • Tribal knowledge and data has additional special requirements needed to safeguard the data. In recognition of the inherent sovereign right for Tribes to govern and control their own data, there may be specific ways that proprietary Tribal knowledge can be used and specific people with whom it can be shared. Contractors shall enter into a data sharing agreement(s) that define how project results and deliverables will be used, in alignment with the CARE (collective benefit, authority to control, responsibility, and ethics) data principles.
  • Open and transparent data and metadata are accessible to the public in a reasonable time frame. All data generated and all models produced from awarded projects are required to be made publicly accessible no later than two years after the end date of the project, except where prohibited by law, regulation, or policy or security requirements, for example with human subjects data.

Contracted work that involves collecting or using data is required to include a data management plan (DMP). A DMP is a written document that describes the data that will be acquired or generated during the course of a research project, how those data will be managed and stored, and what mechanisms will be used to share and archive the data.

Contractors may, but are not required to, use the Data Management Plan Template from the Interagency Ecological Program: https://iep.ca.gov/Data/Data-Utilization-Working-Group.

DMPs must include, at a minimum, the following information:

  • Date the plan was created or updated;
  • Point of contact for access to, or questions about, the data or model(s);
  • Brief description of the data to be acquired or generated during the project, including approximate size (in MB) of the dataset;
  • Brief description of metadata; Must meet California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Minimum Data Standards (https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/BIOS/Metadata)
  • Description of short-term storage and backup procedures, including physical and electronic resources;
  • Procedures for long-term archiving and preservation of data and model(s)
  • How data and model(s) will be accessed and shared; contractors are strongly encouraged to have a plan for sharing data directly with impacted communities;
  • Format(s) in which data will be generated, maintained, and made available;
  • Quality control/quality assurance procedures;
  • Rights and requirements for data use and model(s), and how models will be licensed, description of types of likely confidential data/data protected by law anticipated and reasons why it would be confidential/protected by law; and
  • Proposed data publishing organizations (see list of examples below).

DMPs are living documents. Therefore, contractors will be required to revise the DMP at least once and as needed if methods and/or data management needs change.

Data delivery can include publishing data to relevant open data portals, including but not limited to: