Are you preparing a research proposal or initiating a research project? Increasingly, institutions as well as funders are requiring that proposals and research projects include a comprehensive plan that describes how the data will be effectively managed during the life of the project and beyond.  Advance planning for data management is good practice; stewardship of earth depends on stewardship of the data about earth and life on it.  This session introduces participants to the critical components of effective data management plans, with consideration of the ways in which your plan can be tailored to the size, duration, and breadth of your project.  Participants will be introduced to the DMPTool, a tool that provides plan templates that can be adapted to meet individual needs, in addition to being guided through a series of examples that span the breadth of ecological research projects.  Speakers will highlight an array of online resources that point to exemplary plans, best data practices for all phases of the data life cycle (e.g., data acquisition, quality assurance/quality control, data exploration, analysis, visualization, preservation, and sharing), and additional instructional materials and resources that will enable participants in developing their own data management plans. Designed to be interactive in nature, participants will have the opportunity to step through the data management planning process in real time.