. Building Illinois' biological memory : a framework for long-term ecosystem monitoring. Environmental monitoring. Random Site Selection Assessing the condition and extent of natural environments is a daunting task in a state as big as Illinois. Document- ing changes in Illinois ecosystems requires that data be gathered over extended periods of time. They must also be gathered in a way that supports drawing conclusions from a representa- tive sample of sites. To achieve this goal, a systematic, statistically reliable sampling design was developed using Geographic Information System technology,
. Building Illinois' biological memory : a framework for long-term ecosystem monitoring. Environmental monitoring. Random Site Selection Assessing the condition and extent of natural environments is a daunting task in a state as big as Illinois. Document- ing changes in Illinois ecosystems requires that data be gathered over extended periods of time. They must also be gathered in a way that supports drawing conclusions from a representa- tive sample of sites. To achieve this goal, a systematic, statistically reliable sampling design was developed using Geographic Information System technology, current land cover maps, and other databases to identify potential sampling locations. To select Citizen Scientist monitoring sites, Illinois" 56,000 public land survey sections (each covering approxi- mately one square mile) were randomly ranked for each of the four ecosystem types. To select professional monitoring sites, more than 1,700 townships (each covering approximately 36 square miles) were used. In order of rank, several potential sampling locations were randoinK identified within each section or township and subsequently evaluated in the field. Working from the resulting lists, sites that met safety, accessibility, size, and other habitat- specific criteria are considered suitable for monitoring. Sites are approved for monitoring once landowner permission to access the property was obtained. One hundred sites each have been targeted for annual monitoring under the ForestWatch and RiverWatch programs. Due to the delicate nature and limited number of suitable prairie and wetland ecosystems, fewer sites are targeted under PrairieWatch and WetlandWatch. These randomh selected Citizen Scientist sites will be combined with more than 700 volun- teer-selected sites contained in the EcoWatch Network database. For professional monitoring sites, sampling occurs on 30 sites per year for 3 years. Scientists return to the initial sites on the sixth year, then repeat the cvcl
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