Name Change Approved for Northern Prairie Science Center

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Biological Resources Division
Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center
8711 37th St. SE
Jamestown, North Dakota 58401-7317

July 9, 1997

Effective July 9, 1997, Northern Prairie Science Center in Jamestown, ND, will once again be known as the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center. The Center bore the latter name from 1965, when it was founded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, until late 1993, when it was incorporated into the newly formed National Biological Survey (NBS) and its name was changed to Northern Prairie Science Center to reflect its broadened mission.

The Center was established primarily to conduct research on breeding waterfowl and their habitats. Under NBS, its role expanded to include research and monitoring of all wildlife species and their habitats within the northern grasslands of the United States.

In October 1996, the NBS in turn became the Biological Resources Division (BRD) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Although the Center continues to work within the expanded mission, it sought a return to its original name to avoid confusion with other pre-existing science facilities within USGS.

According to Center Director Dr. Ronald E. Kirby, "The name Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center has the value of long use and familiarity with our client and cooperator base, and succinctly states now, as it did from the first, the geographic area and subject matter of our organization."

The Center conducts extensive research on the ecology and population dynamics of migratory birds, wetland ecology, ecology and management of mammalian predators, grassland ecology and management, ecology and distribution of amphibians and reptiles, and invertebrate ecology. Its award winning home page on the Internet (http://www.npsc.nbs.gov) makes an ever expanding base of biological information on the Great Plains readily available to both the scientific community and the interested public.

As part of the Nation's largest natural resources science agency, the BRD works to provide the scientific understanding and technologies needed to support the sound management and conservation of the Nation's living resources. Working in cooperation with more than 1,200 local, state and federal organizations in all 50 states and a dozen foreign countries, the USGS has a deep commitment to make data and information on the Nation's biological resources more accessible to more people.

For further information please contact: Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (701)-253-5500.