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Aquatic Invertebrate Collection

• The Department of Natural Resource Management oversees this collection (moved with Nels Troelstrup from the Biology/Microbiology Department in 2011-12). The collection houses >10,000 specimens and it occupies 200 ft² (SNP 162). Future growth of this collection would require an additional 100 ft². There is a need to have additional space to process/hold specimens for various curatorial duties. Professor and USGS Unit Leader, Steve Chipps is currently responsible for curating the collection.

Bird Collection

• While the year this collection was established is unknown there are specimens in the collection from the 1890s. The Department of Natural Resource Management oversees this collection. The current location is in SNP 166 (prep room: 194 ft²) and SNP 166A (collection room; 515  ft²), which totals 709 ft². There are ~ 1200 bird specimens and an additional ~ 1200 egg, wing, and skull specimens of which some are also used for teaching.  The current space is adequate to accommodate the collection, but more space will likely be needed for the collection to grow in the future. The NRM Department is searching for an ornithologist who will also curate the collection and in the meantime USGS Assistant Unit Leader/Associate Professor Josh Stafford and his lab are assisting with the collection.

Fish Collection

• While the establishment year of this collection in unknown, many older specimens are from the 1950’s. The Department of Natural Resource Management oversees this collection. The current location is in SNP 168 (prep room: 218 ft²) and SNP 168A (collection room; 493 ft²), which totals 711 ft². The number of specimens is ~ 6393 and some specimens are also used for teaching. The current space is adequate to accommodate the collection with anticipated growth of 50-60 new specimens per year for the next couple of years. However, for the collection to grow beyond this it will require additional space. We are pursuing funding opportunities to expand collection efforts and increase visibility and use of the collection resources. These efforts could increase the rate of specimens cataloged and needs for space in the future. Current updates are being made to ventilation and humidity control in the collection room as part of the hood/exhaust building work for McFadden Biostress. Assistant Professor Christopher Cheek oversees the curatorial duties of the collection. 
• The NRM Department also maintains the NRM Fisheries Teaching Collection. The current location is in SNP 179 within a 5 x 2-foot cabinet footprint. The teaching collection is composed of ~ 180 specimens, some with code numbers indicating they belong to the larger fish collection. Space dedicated to this collection is sufficient. The plan is to add new/fresh specimens as they come into the department to replace older specimens. Assistant Professor Alison Coulter curates and manages this collection.

Mammal Collection

• While the establishment year of this collection in unknown, many older specimens are from the 1950s. The Department of Natural Resource Management oversees this collection which is currently located in the NRM lab prep area (SNP 179A & 180 383 ft² combined), between our terrestrial and aquatic teaching labs (SNP 179 & 181). The research collection is composed of ~2100 research-grade specimens and the NRM Mammal Teaching Collection is composed of ~ 600 teaching-grade specimens. Assistant Professor Amanda Cheeseman is responsible for the curation of the mammal collection.