Using dusty old data to predict the future and inform conservation

In this age of big data, algorithms, and models, many people overlook the value of the data residing in our museum cabinets, library archives, attics, and traditional knowledge. These data are labor-intensive to access, but they are abundant and essential to predicting future changes in ecology and to informing conservation planning. I will describe the story of uncovering at least one historical phenology data set and how it became a scientific gold mine. And I will make the case that there are many more treasures waiting to be found, if only we invest in finding and analyzing them.