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In the Global Change
Research Program Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-606) Congress called
for the USGCRP to ``provide usable information on which to base
policy decisions relating to global change.'' ``Usable'' means
available for use and capable of being used by the users. In its
first years the USGCRP did not systematically include users in
program planning and evaluation, raising the question of how its
managers could know whether it would produce usable information.
Happily, this is changing; its FY 1995 plan states that ``The
USGCRP is increasing efforts to involve public and institutional
decision makers in program planning'' [CENR, 1994 p vii].
However, unless the program is already doing what users want,
usable information may be slow to emerge, because changing the
direction of a program with the momentum of large Federal
spending is hard once it is underway.
U.S. National Report to IUGG, 1991-1994
Rev. Geophys. Vol. 33
Suppl., © 1995 American Geophysical Union