I normally try to respond to such (vague, sometimes veiled) questions off-list, but since I consider it not only impossible for such "data" to be useful (it can be misleading, perhaps more often than not), am curious about how others view such enquiries. I suspect that most ecologists would presume that such an enquiry would be related to ecological research and associated costs, but since "restoration" is mentioned, It might be that Carr seeks information about costs related to restoration applications (or both?). I am frankly a bit concerned about the apparent enticement or implied "reward" of having authors' "projects" cited (In what? A peer-reviewed article? A report to a consulting client or other "gray" literature?). I do not presume that Carr's enquiry falls within any of these categories, but it is impossible to determine, based on the information given, just what he is doing or what he really wants.
I have no quarrel with gray literature; I have written a lot of it. I, too, have been faced with estimating costs associated with ecosystem restoration projects. Ecosystem research (science) projects are relatively easy to estimate, but (applied) ecosystem restoration projects (I'm presuming that such is Carr's objective) vary so much (in terms of scale, site conditions, region, location, "design" and other variables) that "cost" data do not translate well from project to project. It's a lot safer to figure project costs for each project from the ground up than to rely upon (or even permit the contamination of) cost information from even "comparable" or "reference" projects. I know this might not be the "answer" that Carr thinks he wants, but such trawling has always proven to be a waste of time in my experience. WT At 10:06 AM 2/11/2008, David W. Carr wrote: >Hello, > >I am hoping some of you out there may be able to assist me. I am curren= >tly >working on a research for restoration of meadow, marsh, and aquatic >habitats for Big Bear Lake in California. If you happen to have any >projects I could reference that would have costs associated with them I= > >would love to be able to cite them. I have been researching a number o= >f >projects and many of them how little to no cost information. Any help = >you >could provide would be appreciated. > >Sincerely, > >David > >David W. Carr >Ecologist > >URS Corporation >2020 E First Street, Suite 400 >Santa Ana, CA 92705 >Tel: 714.835.6886 >Direct: 714.648.2760 >Mobile: 714.679.2933 >Fax: 714.433.7701 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > = > > This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. If you receive this = > > message in error or are not the intended recipient, you should not ret= >ain, > distribute, disclose or use any of this information and you should des= >troy > the e-mail and any attachments or copies. = > > = > > > > >=
