Three leading organizations that advocate for the preservation of natural history collections have voiced concerns about the National Science Foundation’s decision to halt the Collections in Support of Biological Research (CSBR) program. In a letter dated March 24, 2016, the organizations called for the agency to “reconsider this action, which can jeopardize the long-term care, stewardship, and accessibility of these irreplaceable biological specimens and their associated data.”
NSC Alliance led the effort to rally the collections community. The letter was also signed by the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections and the American Institute of Biological Sciences.
In early March 2016, NSF posted on the CSBR website that the program “has been placed on hiatus…New proposals will not be accepted in 2016. During this time the program is being evaluated for the long term resource needs and research priorities int he Biological Sciences Directorate.”
Comments to NSF can be submitted via DBICSBR@nsf.gov.