Conservation Resources

Below are some conservation resources:

• Houston-Galveston Area Council: - 2002 & 2004 aerial photos of Montgomery and Harris Counties (look for interactive mapper).   ARCIMS Website.  H-GAC Raster Datasets
   
• Google Earth: zoom in on aerial photography of most places on Earth. 

• Texas Commissioner on Environmental Quality:  Data on current and projected air quality in Houston area. 

• ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo    Contains programs that model various environmental and scientific processes such as predator-prey relationship, fire behavior and carrying capacity.   Look for Models and Community Models.  You should automatically obtain some models when you download the program.

• U.S. Energy Information Administration: information on national and world energy sources and use.

• Texas Soil & Water Conservation Board:  Over 200 videos on soil and water issues as well as many other resources.
   
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service:  Texas Soil Survey. Texas Soil Maps
   
• Houston Wilderness: Soils in Houston Region

• Texas Parks & Wildlife:  Water Resources. Texas the State of Water Videos.
   
• Bayou Preservation Association:  Watershed maps.  Floodplain Maps (Flood Insurance Maps).  Topographic maps
   
• www.h-gac.com - Watershed maps and summary reports on the quality of water in the area. Look for Clean Rivers Section. Then looks for 2005 Basin Highlights Report or 2006 Clean Rivers Program Basin Summary (You can download the entire report at over 140 MB or go to click on FTP Resources which allows you to download text and maps on individual watersheds.

• U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:  Wetlands.  Maps of Wetlands in Houston area.
   
• Texas Parks & Wildlife: Wetlands. Invasive Species.

• Texas Parks & Wildlife: Endangered species.  Wildlife fact sheets.  Invasive Species.
   
• Houston Wilderness: 10 ecoregions in Houston area.  Contact information for area natural areas.

• The Greatest Good – A Forest Service Centennial Film. A review of the History of the U.S. Forest Service and the Environmental Movement in the US. May be obtained from the Forest History Society
• These may be obtained from Texas Parks and Wildlife. Go to the TP&W website and look for publications:

Texas The State of Water Vol. I.

Texas The State of Water Vol. II – Finding A Balance.

Texas The State of Water Vol. III – The State of Springs

Texas The State of Flowing Water Vol. IV – Overpopulation, Climate Change, Urbanization.

• Running Dry Feature Length– an overview of the world water crisis. May be obtained from Amazon.Com. For more information visit www.runningdry.org. A 19 minute version may be downloaded from utube.
• The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry? Same source as above, but no short version.
• Dirt The Movie. Tell the story of humans trying to reconnect to dirt-the living skin f the earth
• Poisoned Waters. PBS Home Video. Go to the PBS website and look for publication og go to Amazon.Com.
• Blue Gold – World Water Wars. Reviewed in Science as addressing our major water issues although somewhat one sided. I purchased mine from Amazon.com, but PBS may also be found at PBS.com.
• The Dust Bowl a PBS Film by Ken Burns
• Human Footprint. National Geographic Video. A qualtitative look at the resources used during the lifetime of an average American citizen. May be purchased from the national Geographic store at www.nationalgeographic.com.
• Arithmetic, Population & Energy by Dr. Albert Bartlett may be obtained from the University Bookstore at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A version may be accessed on utube. Lower quality, but will help you determine if you want the DVD.
• Rational Energy Middle Series – An excellent overview of the issues surrounding our energy use and future. May be downloaded from www.rationalmiddle.com.
• Green Fire, Aldo Leopold: A Land Ethic for Our Time. Afilm about the life of Aldo Leopold and the evolution of his philosophy of land stewardship ethic. May be obtained from the Aldo Leopold Foundation at www.aldoleopold.org
• Long Now Foundation – had a number of talks on the long term conservation issues including one by the chief biologist of the Nature Conservancy. These talks may generally be found on the following web site.
• Fora.tv talks on many subjects related to the environment.

• Anderson, Ray (2009), Confessions of A Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose – Doing Business by Respecting the Earth, St. Martin’s Press
• Carter, Vernon and Dale, Tom (rev ed 1974) Topsoil and Civilization, University of Oklahoma Press
• Cowardin, Lewis M. et al.,1979, Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States, FWS/OBS-79/31, U.S. Department of the Interior Fish & Wildlife Service.
• Devilliers, Marq (2000) Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource, Houghton Mifflin press
• Diamond, Jared (2005), Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking Penguin
• Gottlieb, Roger (2004), This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment 2nd ed., Taylor and Francis Books
• Hall, Charles A.S. and Klitgaard, Kent A. (2012), Energy & the Wealth of Nations: Understanding the Biophysical Economy, Springer
• Hart, Stuart (2010 3rd ed.), Capitalism at the Crossroads: Next Generation Business Strategies for a Post-Crisis World, Wharton School Publishing
• Hawkin, Paul (1993) The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, Harper Collins
• Kareiva, Peter and Marvier, Michelle, (2011) Conservation Science: Balancing the Needs of People and Nature, Roberts and Company, Colorado. A textbook on a balanced approach to conservation.
• Lewis, William M., 2001,Wetlands Explained, Wetland Science, Policy & Politics in America, Oxford University Press.
• Leopold, Aldo (1949, 1953,1966) A Sand County Almanac, Ballantine Books
• Logan, William Bryant (2007) “ Dirt: The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, W.W. Norton
• Lyon, John G., 1993, Practical Handbook for Wetland Identification and Delineation, Lewis Publishers.
• Montgomery, David (2007), Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations, University of California Press
• Ostrom, Elinor (1990) Governing the Commons: Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, Cambridge University Press
• Princen, Thomas (2005), The Logic of Sufficiency, MIT Press
• Sansom, Andrew (2008) Water In Texas: An Introduction, University of Texas Press
• Stutzenbaker, Charles D., 1999, Aquatic and Wetland Plants of the Western Gulf Coast, Texas Parks & Wildlife Press.
• Wetland Training Institute, WTI-99-1, 1999, Field Guide for Wetland Delineation 1987 Corps of Engineers Manual, Wetland Training Institute.