US federal government employee observations copyright

[LostInCR]

I will add that an employee of the US government should have an employment contract and any contractor or subcontractor should have a standard contract that includes confidentiality clauses governing release of data. I believe that in virtually all of those standard clauses, the employee or contractor are precluded from releasing government data without written authorization. So my interpretation of this is that data or photographs you collect while doing anything potentially considered part of your work with the US government would be forbidden without written authorization consistent with your contract. In the past, iNat type data might have been overlooked. In today’s world it could be viewed as grounds for termination with cause.