Natural Resource Technology

In the face of so many unprecedented changes occurring in our lives, our ecosystems and our globe, society is more often expecting scientists to provide information that can help guide communities toward a more sustainable future. This book is our attempt to provide a framework that managers of natural resources can use to design monitoring programs that will benefit future generations by providing the information needed to make informed decisions. In addition we offer tools and approaches that engage individuals in our society in monitoring programs. We firmly believe that people and communities who are empowered in the design and implementation of monitoring programs are more likely to use the information that results from the program, and support it over time.

This guide is an invaluable contribution to understanding how to monitor habitats. Although designed to provide a unique national contribution to habitat monitoring, particularly regarding the condition of habitat and scale of analysis, it must be made clear that this guide does not present population monitoring approaches, or ways to count individuals. The objectives of habitat monitoring and population monitoring are distinctly different, and it is important to keep them separate while reading.