Facilities

Fisheries and wildlife research is enhanced by the availability of laboratory and field facilities both within and outside of the department. Fisheries, aquaculture, and aquatic ecology research is conducted in one of two wet laboratories, a 3,500-square-foot lab supplied by a deep well with a water flow capacity of 150 gallons per minute and a 10,000-square-foot lab supplied with 450 gallons per minute of both well water and biologically filtered water in a recirculation system.

Computers

Outstanding computer facilities are readily available to you within the department. Numerous Macintosh and PC-compatible computers and workstations are in the general labs and labs of individual faculty. Laser printers are also available to all graduate students for thesis and publication needs. A computerized system for generating technical 35 mm slides is available. Departmental computers are fully networked to a central file server with extensive software. An e-mail system provides ready access to other parts of the University and to nodes throughout the world. Additional microcomputers are available in the College computer lab, which is used primarily for classroom instruction. The University computing centers offer essentially unlimited mainframe capacity for analysis of very large data sets.

Libraries

The University maintains one of the larger libraries in the country, with approximately five million catalogued volumes plus extensive government publications, manuscripts, archives, phonograph records, audio and video tapes, and other materials. A full range of reference and information services, including specialized reference assistance, database literature searching, and library user instruction is also available. The system has over 30 special subject libraries. Of particular note is the Entomology, Fisheries, and Wildlife Library with major holdings in entomology, fisheries, wildlife, and general animal ecology. Graduate students can obtain access to this library at all hours. Nearby is the Forestry Library with extensive holdings in natural resource management. Other branch libraries on the Twin Cities campus in St. Paul cover most aspects of biology (except medicine) and all aspects of agriculture, including veterinary medicine. Within the College of Natural Resources, the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory has one of the best equipped facilities among American universities for analyzing aerial and satellite imagery, and for learning and applying a variety of geographic information systems.

Additional Research Facilities

Another center of technical excellence in natural resource analysis is the Natural Resource Research Institute in Duluth with which department faculty have close ties. The North Central Research Station, the regional research facility of the US Forest Service, is located next door to the department. Departmental faculty also play prominent roles with other research centers, including the Institute for Social, Economic, and Ecological Sustainability, which deals with various aspects of resource management. The University has excellent facilities for field research.

Cedar Creek Natural History Area, located just 30 miles north of campus, is a National Science Foundation, Experimental Ecological Reserve and is also the site of the University’s Biotelemetry Lab, internationally recognized for pioneering work in radio telemetry.

The College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences' Cloquet Forestry Center, 135 miles north of campus, offers extensive opportunity for forestry-wildlife research and is the site of renowned studies of ruffed grouse. The Lake Itasca Forestry and Biological Station in northwestern Minnesota has long been recognized as a center of natural history research and advanced instruction. It is also designated as an Experimental Ecological Reserve by the National Science Foundation. The environs of Lake Itasca State Park offer an unusual convergence of habitats: a wide variety of lakes, ponds, and streams; coniferous and hardwood forests; and prairies.

Many student projects are conducted on state and federal parks and management areas within Minnesota, in conjunction with research branches of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the Biological Resource Division of the US Geological Survey, and the US Forest Service. The Minnesota Zoo, 25 miles from campus, is another source of student research opportunities. The zoo has strong conservation and research programs and is home to two international organizations.