The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) of the Department of Interior (DoI) is responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for plants and wildlife. FWS Maintains an endangered species webpage located at http://endangered.fws.gov/. The US Geological Survey hosts some information pertinent to Endangered Species. An explanation of the law and how it works is available at http://water.usgs.gov/eap/env_guide/endangered.html. Another good general source is Environmental Education on the Internet with a special section on Endangered Species. The website at http://eelink.net/EndSpp/ provides numerous links to other sources of information, both domestic and international. The School of Natural Resources and the Environment at the University of Michigan publishes an Endangered Species Update that serves as a forum for exchanging information on scientific and political aspects of species protection efforts. It is available online at http://www.umich.edu/~esupdate. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) of the US Department of Commerce is the agency responsible for implementing provisions of the Endangered Species Act applicable to marine species. NMFS maintains a website that provides information about its efforts to protect endangered marine species at http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/endangered.htm. The site has pages with updated lists of species http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/species/ESA_species.html, downloadable species recovery plans http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/PR3/recover_planning.html and even information about how to arrange to view listed species in the wild without harming them http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/prot_res/MMWatch/MMViewing.html. The UN Environment Programme's World Conservation Monitoring Centre monitors global species protection efforts. Its website is at http://www.unep-wcmc.org. A variety of non-governmental organizations have webpages devoted to endangered species issues. The Endangered Species Coalition, a coalition of more than 400 conservation, scientific, business, and religious organizations that supports stronger species protection efforts has a website at http://www.stopextinction.org. The World Wildlife Fund's webpage is at http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/species.cfm. Environmental Defense's webpage is at http://www.environmentaldefense.org. Other websites include http://www.endangeredspecie.com/ and http://www.nesarc.org, which is hosted by an industry lobbying group, Endangered Species Act Reform Coalition. A GUIDE TO MATERIALS ON PUBLIC LANDS AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET The headquarters of the US Forest Service maintains a website at http://www.fs.fed.us. Many individual national forests maintain their own websites, which can be located through links on the headquarters webpage at http://www.fs.fed.us/links/forests.html. National forests can be searched by name, state, or region on an interactive map. The Forest Service's website provides information about Forest System Land and Resource Management Planning by providing information about planning activities underway in each of the system's regions (http://www.fs.fed.us/forum/nepa/nfmalrmp.html). It also includes information on appeals (http://www.fs.fed.us/forests) and litigation concerning management plans (http://www.fs.fed.us/forum/nepa/appealsoverview.htm) and Forest Service directives concerning the planning process (http://www.fs.fed.us/im/directives). The BLM's website is located at http://www.blm.gov/nhp/index.htm. It provides news updates about developments affecting the public lands and information about BLM's activities administering them. The National Park Service's "ParkNet" website is located at http://www.nps.gov/. It provides considerable information about visiting the national parks. For information about the history of the Park Service and its role in protecting the national parks see http://www.nps.gov/legacy/index.htm. In addition to the laws whose text is reproduced below, many other laws affect the management of public lands and forest areas. The Committee on Resources of the US House of Representatives has compiled a compendium of such laws that may be accessed online at http://www.house.gov/resources/105cong/reports/105_a/forestidx.htm. The University of New Mexico's Center for Wildlife Law provides excellent online summaries of public lands laws at http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/statute_frame.htm. The Public Lands Interpretive Association, a nonprofit educational organization, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management, and the USDA Forest Service Intermountain Region operates a Public Lands Information Center website located at http://www.publiclands.org/html/home.html. The site is dedicated to providing information about recreational opportunities on western public lands. A coalition of environmental, scientific, religious and educational groups has launched the Heritage Forests Campaign to lobby for improved protection of forest areas on public lands. They maintain a website devoted to the theme of saving "our last unspoiled national forests" located at http://www.ourforests.org. For an industry perspective on forest issues, see the website of the American Forest and Paper Association located at http://www.afandpa.org. The Political Economy Research Center (PERC) in Bozeman, Montana, which promotes "free market environmentalism" has been active on public lands issues. Its report "Forests: Do We Get What We Pay For?" is available online at http://www.perc.org/pl2.htm. The early history of the national debate over use of the public lands law is well documented in an extraordinary online exhibition maintained by the Library of Congress. Entitled "The Evolution of the Conservation Movement: 1850-1920," the exhibition can be located online at http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amrvhtml/conshome.html. It contains an astoundingly rich collection of photographs and documents pertaining to the history of the conservation movement that can be viewed and downloaded. Another source of information is the Forest History Society's website at http://www.lib.duke.edu/forest. | 
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