The Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative data policy describes the expectations for access and use of datasets stored in the FEMC archive and associated products. FEMC advocates for free and open access to data without use restrictions, but data providers have the choice of more restrictive licensing agreements for use of their data.
FEMC utilizes the Creative Commons scheme for licensing datasets stored in the archive. Data providers can choose from the available Creative Commons license options to restrict the sharing, derivative use, attribution and commercial use of the data. Visit https://creativecommons.org/about/cclicenses/ to learn more about the available licenses. In addition to the options provided by Creative Commons, data providers can make data available on request, or not make data available at all. The license for a dataset is accessible from the summary metadata page for each dataset on the FEMC website. All datasets licensed for open access by the data provider are available for download from the FEMC website free of charge. Unless an alternative is selected and displayed with the dataset, FEMC applies the default license of the Creative Commons CC0 "No Rights Reserved" waiver.
It is considered professional etiquette to provide attribution of the original work if this data package is shared in whole or by individual components, regardless of the license chosen. Communication (and collaboration) with the creators of this data package is recommended to prevent duplicate research or publication.
This data package (and its components) are made available "as is" and with no warranty of accuracy or fitness for use. The creators of this data package and the website shall not be liable for any damages resulting from misinterpretation or misuse of the data package or its components, and FEMC does not assume any responsibility in tracking compliance with the data license. Periodic updates of this data package may be available from the website.