Natural Resources and the Environment

General | Ethics & Law | Wildlife | Birds | Plants | Pollution & Invasive Species | Water

General Sites

Amazing Environmental Organization WebDirectory! Subtitled the "Earth's Biggest Environment Search Engine," with thousands of sites, it is the largest exclusively environmental organization directory on the Web and includes sites from over 100 countries. Includes searchable categories.  Source: ©1996 The WebDirectory.

Biodiversity and Conservation: Biodiversity basics, conservation issues and efforts, free downloadable lesson plans, and other resources are all here. Source: Chicago's Field Museum.

Commission for Environmental Cooperation Publications:  The Commission for Environmental Cooperation addresses regional environmental concerns in North America, helps prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and promotes the effective enforcement of environmental law.  Publications may be downloaded (pdf) Source: Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Earth's 911:  Provides community specific environmental information on recycling, buying recycled products, and household hazardous waste.  Source: The Public & Private Sector Partnership for the Environment.

EarthTrends:  Free access to global and country-specific environmental data. Information is grouped in 10 topic areas. Source: World Resources Institute.

Ecology and Natural Resources Collection: Includes images from the Aldo Leopold Papers, and the Wisconsin Land Economic Inventory, more commonly called the small-scale Bordner survey maps. This is a useful resource for anyone studying land cover ca. 1930s or wanting to do a comparison between the original land survey, the 1930s survey and present condition of the land. Source: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections.

Ecology WWW Sites: A very broad alphabetical listing of ecology sites.  Source: Anthony R. Brach, Missouri Botanical Garden & Harvard University Herbaria.

Ecological Regions of North America:  This hyperlinked color map  provides photos, detailed descriptions, and case studies of North American ecological regions.  Source: Commission for Environmental Cooperation.

Environmental Media Services:  A nonprofit organization "dedicated to providing journalists with the most current information on environmental issues."  Includes a library of information under the general topics of Environmental Health, Energy, Transportation & Sprawl, Climate & Air, Land & Ecology, Oceans & Water, Government, and Consumer information.  Links also access related court cases, subject experts, and databases.  Source:  Librarian's Index to the Internet.

Evolution of the Conservation Movement, 1850-1920:  This documentary archive of materials contains 62 books and pamphlets, 140 Federal statutes and Congressional resolutions, various Presidential proclamations, 170 prints and photographs, and 2 motion pictures dealing with the Conservation movement in the U.S.  Source: American Memory Project, Library of Congress.

Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network:  "promotes synthesis and comparative research across sites and ecosystems and among other related national and international research programs."  Source: Long Term Ecological Research.

Resources for the Future:  This nonprofit/nonpartisan group conducts research on environmental and natural resource issues.  Scholars examine topics such as government regulation, risk, biodiversity, climate, Superfund policy, technology, and outer space in a variety of freely available discussion papers, articles, project summaries, and reports [pdf].  (Description courtesy of Scout Report, 8/28/98). Source:  Resources for the Future.

Urban Ecology: The architects and activists who designed this site draw on ecology, public participation and urban planning "to help design and build healthier cities." Source: Urban Ecology.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency:  EPA's Web site includes categories for Kids, Students and Teachers, Concerned Citizens, Researchers & Scientists, Business and Industry, State, Local, and Tribal Governments, EPA News, Offices, Regions & Labs, Programs and Initiatives, Regulations, Contracts, Grants and Environmental Financing, Publications, Information Services, and Systems and Software. Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Wilderness on the World Wide Web: A listing of wilderness relevant internet resources: Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Education, The Idea of Wilderness, Wilderness Management, and Wilderness Policy. Source: ©1996, all rights reserved, Bill Borrie, School of Forestry, The University of Montana.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: Wisconsin's DNR Web site includes News, Notices & Events, Parks, Trails & Recreation, Fish Information, Wildlife Information, Forestry Information, Personnel & Offices, Environment & Permits, DNR Regulations, Public Review Documents, and Publications/Educational Resources. Source: ©1996, Wisconsin DNR.

World Resources Institute:  Provides yearly world resources report, environmental data, and global topics related to the environment. Source: World Resources Institute.

Yahoo: Environment and Nature:   Source: © 1994-97 Yahoo! Inc.
 

Ethics & Law

EcoLex: Gateway to Environmental Law:  A searchable, global database on environmental law. It includes bibliographic information for treaties, national legislation, and court decisions.  Links are made to full text if available. Also in French and Spanish.  Source:  Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Environmental Ethics Subject Bibliographies:  Includes 36 bibliographies whose intent is "to facilitate research and public discussion of the ethical issues embedded in the environmental concerns of our day." (description from Choice, 4/98).   Source: ©1998, Timothy C. Weiskel.

Natural Resources Law:  Includes links to federal and state statutes, as well as other Internet reference sources that relate to natural resources laws.  Source: Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School.

Wildlife

Animal Diversity Web: Accounts of individual species include information on distributions, natural history, conservation, and economic importance, along with pictures and sounds if available. The site is searchable by scientific and common name, class, order, geographic range and distribution, food habits, behavior, etc. Synopses of some higher taxonomic groups are also provided. Source: Sponsored in part by the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. © 1995-1997, The Regents of the University of the Michigan.

Animal Info--Information on Rare, Threatened and Endangered Mammals: This site includes photographs and information on distribution, reasons for population decline, habitat, diet, social organization, and references.  Searchable by common or scientific name, it also links to other relevant websites. Source: Paul Massicot, director, Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Resource Assessment Service.

Hinterland Who's Who: This Canadian site includes in-depth descriptions of wildlife, discussions on issues, actions that you can take to help wildlife, and educational materials that teachers and group leaders can use.  Source:  Canadian Wildlife Service and Canadian Wildlife Federation.

Birds

Audubon's Birds of America:  This site features the complete double elephant folio set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America, accompanied by his Ornithological Biography.  Source:  University of Pittsburgh.

Bird Conservation:  Western Great Lakes Basin:  This site is dedicated to the conservation and management of forest birds in the northern forest regions of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan.  Some part of the site are under construction, but it does include links to bird accounts for a number of species.  Source:  Great Lakes National Program office, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Forest Birds of the Western Great Lakes: a guide to birds three National Forests in Western Great Lakes Forests, the Chippewa and Superior in Minnesota and the Chequamegon in Wisconsin.  This searchable site includes species accounts, maps, trends, and an environmental watch list.  Source: University of Minnesota - Duluth, Natural Resources Research Institute.

Internet Bird Collection:  a video library of footage of the world's birds that is available to the general public free of charge. It is searchable and includes footage of over 3,500 birds and aims to eventually include several videos showing a variety of biological aspects (e.g. feeding, breeding, etc.) for every species.  Source:  Handbook of the Birds of the World.

Wisconsin Breeding Bird Atlas:  this projects provides a permanent record of the bird species in Wisconsin, including the habitat needs, records of rare and endangered species.  It is also designed to provide a historical records and baseline data for future research in bird populations in the state.    Source:  Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.

Plants & Forestry

Dendrome:  Forest Tree Genome Database:  Acts as "a central electronic resource for the study of forest tree genomes."  Source: Institute of Forest Genetics (USDA Forest Service).

Horticulture & Crop Science:  Includes research databases, horticultural factsheets, and a plant dictionary.  Source: Ohio State University.

Pollution & Invasive Species

Environmental Contaminants Encyclopedia:  This searchable index of 118 contaminants from Acenaphthene to Zinc is also a reference for determining the potential impact of the concentration of a certain substance.  Adobe Acrobat (pdf) format includes background information, specific threats, and other related material. (description courtesy of Scout Report).  Source:  National Park Service.

Invasive Species.Gov:  This site deals with the U.S. federal government's response to the impacts of invasive plants and animals. The site has species profiles, plus information and links for news and events, laws and legislation, agencies and organizations, transportation of species from one location to another, and many other resources on issues involving invasive species. Source:  National Invasive Species Council.

Scorecard: Locate polluting companies in your neighborhood, find information about the type of chemicals being released, and learn the health risks associated with those pollutants.  Discover how their state or county fares in a national ranking of polluters; find maps locating toxic polluters by town, county, and state; and read about the regulatory controls governing these toxic chemicals. Source:  Environmental Defense Fund

Water

Freshwater [pdf]:  This UN site addresses the issue of how the decline in the quantity and quality of the world's freshwater resources "may prove to be the dominant issue on the environment and development agenda of the coming century." Users can learn about water scarcity, water and sanitation, water quality, groundwater, floods and droughts, and other key water-related issues. Includes conference proceedings. Source: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Ohio Sea Grant and Lake Erie Programs [pdf, RealPlayer]: The Ohio Sea Grant and Lake Erie Programs website include the Lake Erie Information Discussion Board (where visitors can get answers to Lake Erie-related questions) and information on the Sea Grant's work in creating artificial reefs in Lake Erie. The homepage also contains a site index which is a hyperlinked list of subjects covered, news, newsletters, research projects, proposals, etc. Source: Ohio State University, Ohio Sea Grant College Program..

Water Quality Information Center: is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Research Service . The center was established in 1990 to support USDA's coordinated plan to address water quality concerns. As the focal point of NAL's water quality efforts, the center collects, organizes, and communicates the scientific findings, educational methodologies, and public policy issues related to water quality and agriculture.  Source: USDA.

Wisconsin's Water Library: Learn more about Wisconsin water issues. The Water Library is a collection of almost 30,000 volumes of water-related information plus links to additional sources on the Web.