The NatureMapping Program is a hands-on environmental science and education program that joins students, educators, general public, scientists and natural resource agencies within each state in studying the environment. Local, state and federal participation is integral to the design of the NatureMapping Program and to the achievement of its objectives.

The objectives of the NatureMapping Program are:

• to show how a biodiversity data gathering project can become a community resource for understanding the environment in which the community lives,
• to join schools, biologists, companies, and landowners in a common information base,
• to involve citizens in the activity of science, and through the information infrastructure
• make them part of a team, and
• to acquire broad data sets to map biodiversity in a way not otherwise achievable, and
• involve portions of the community that otherwise are excluded from collection, analysis,
• and debate on the issues affecting everyone in the community.

The environmental science community, natural resource professionals, and grass-roots community organizations have been involved in the design and implementation of The NatureMapping Program to ensure that NatureMapping environmental measurements will make a significant contribution to environmental science curriculum, state-wide biological database and locally driven community projects.

Appropriate NatureMapping educational materials are being developed for students, citizens and communities by educators, University of Washington, Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife, Ecology, Governor's Council on Environmental Education, Global Rivers Environmental Education Network (GREEN). Museum and libraries are important resources providing a vast amount of information to enhance The NatureMapping Program. Academicians, natural resource professionals and educators in other states are joining forces to tailor the education materials for their individual states. Water, Fish, Soils and Plants, Insects, Climate are future projects to provide a complete picture of biodiversity as it occurs in a small town, watershed, state or nation.

Students and the general public collect data on habitat and wildlife, and enter their data into the NatureMapping database. Submission occurs via the mail, on completed NatureMapping forms, software diskettes, or in the future, via Internet, to NatureMapping at the University of Washington. NatureMapping data, environmental maps, graphs, Gap Analysis images, and other University research datasets will be accessible for school, agency and community use.

There are two levels of workshops (Wildlife and Habitat Data Collection and What To Do With Your Data, for school and community projects, using NatureMapping software, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and Internet). The Wildlife and Habitat Data Collection workshop is conducted monthly throughout the state. The other will begin in Winter, 1997.

Annual conferences to train facilitators implementing NatureMapping in other states are planned. The first National NatureMapping Meeting will be held May 11-14, 1998 in Silverdale, Washington.

Annual forums will be held to unite K-12 student representatives and teachers with researchers, their students, natural resource professionals, for discussions on the latest research conducted by all the attendees. The K-16 students will act as mentors in their schools and communities. Schools and communities will be recruited for projects identified by researchers and agencies. Researchers and agency personnel will be recruited to assist in community defined projects.

Website: http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/

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