Using the Internet for Conservation Communication and Information in Missouri, to Infinity, and Beyond

The Internet has changed many ways of doing business. The first things I purchased through the Internet were two rubber chickens from the company Archie McPhee in 1998. It felt odd then to type in a credit card number into the online form to order an object I could only see in a picture. Now I conduct most of my banking and bill paying through the Internet. For several years, I considered a newsletter or weekly e-mail to communicate about the human dimensions of conservation but rejected those methods either because of the amount of work to format a newsletter or the problems of keeping an e-mail list current. Now, I use this blog approach as one way of communicating conservation information.

A blog works to communicate conservation. In a blog, I can communicate my observations and facts about conservation as fast as I can type. And nobody is bothered with it unless they want to find it and read the information. In addition, as the character Buzz says in the movie Toy Story, the information can be used by anyone in Missouri, anyone using the Internet, or "to infinity, and beyond."

Read about conservation online. You can read more about conservation, using the Internet, at a wide variety of Web pages and blogs. Here are just a few of my favorites:

• Missouri Department of Conservation
• Fresh Afield blog by the Missouri Department of Conservation
• Conservation News blog by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
• Outdoor Industry Foundation research and reports
• State fish and wildlife Web sites at Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• Conservation Federation of Missouri
• Southwick Associates, a fish and wildlife economics and statistics company
• Fish and wildlife management offices in the United States
• National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation
• USDA Forest Service