Assignment task: The Department of the Interior hired Biologists Are Us, a private biological laboratory, to study the sea lion problem at the Ballard Locks. The sea lions were feasting on migrating salmon as they tried to re-enter the canal that led into the freshwater lakes and streams where the fish would lay their eggs. Federal officials wanted to know exactly how many fish these mammals ate each day. The biologists did a thorough day-by-day study of the problem and after six months presented the Department of the Interior with a 16-page report outlining its findings. Biologists Are Us retained the volumes of data on which the report was based. The report was made public, but the Sierra Club sought the original data gathered by the Biologists Are Us. After the Interior Department denied the club's original requests for this data, the Sierra Club filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of the Interior.
A. What is an agency record?
B. Is the original data sort by Sierra Club an agency records? Why or why not?