SPECIAL ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS 



BUREAU SERVICES THROUGH THE 

 DIVISION 



Research centers serve the public 



The several wildlife research centers, stations, 

 and laboratories of the Bureau of Sport Fisheries 

 and Wildlife, because of their central locations, 

 have great opportunity to serve the interests of 

 the people in wildlife matters. 



In 1963 the Bureau's staff of mammalogists and 

 ornithologists housed in the Natural History Mu- 

 seum, Washington, D.C., were called upon many 

 hundreds of times for information concerning 

 their specialities. Members of the Congress, more 

 than 20 Federal bureaus and agencies, various 

 American and foreign universities, a dozen nation- 

 ally circulated magazines, nearly a score of na- 

 tional scientific organizations, museums through- 

 out the world, professors and graduate students 

 from many educational institutions, and hundreds 

 of individuals who queried by letter or telephone, 

 sought information on birds and mammals. 



Visitors to the Bureau's wildlife laboratories in- 

 cluded 1(!!» parties from 25 States, the District of 

 Columbia, and 15 foreign countries, among whom 

 were 107 nat ionally and internationally known sci- 

 entists and wildlife officials. In addition, 20 scien- 

 tists or officials concerned with marine mammals, 

 and scores of individuals, visited the Seattle. Lab- 

 oratory on the West Coast. 



The Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, Laurel, 

 Md., readily accessible to the Washington metro- 

 politan area and its •"> million people, has become 

 widely known as an outdoor-indoor laboratory 

 and scientific headquarters. More than 100 visit- 

 ing parties, including institutional and agency 

 scientists. Federal and State personnel, scientists 

 from foreign lands, and conservation groups, 

 vouth and adult — all concerned with or interested 



in wildlife resources — sought information or in- 

 struction here in 1963. With the availability of 

 meeting rooms, the Patuxent Center was used for 

 several regional, interdivisional, and special wild- 

 life workshops and conferences during t lie year. 

 Such use promises to increase. 



In the West, the Denver Wildlife Research 

 Center is a meeting place for professional wildlife 

 personnel associated with various Federal land- 

 management agencies and concerned with wildlife 

 problems or plans. State wildlife personnel, espe- 

 cially of Colorado but also of many other States, 

 are frequent visitors. Wildlife and natural- 

 resource students from several Colorado and other 

 State colleges and universities favor the Center for 

 Held trips and instruction. And like the Patux- 

 ent Center, the Denver installation is frequently 

 a meeting place for conferences and workshops on 

 wildlife affairs. 



The 18 Cooperative Wildlife Research Units and 

 the 22 substations of the Division are local meet- 

 ing centers for Federal, State, and layman groups 

 having wildlife or other conservation interests. 



Assistance to Government agencies 



Bureau research specialists are being called upon 

 increasingly by Federal and State agencies, munic- 

 ipal governments, industry, and private land- 

 users for help in finding solutions to their wild- 

 life and nuisance-animal problems. 



Ornithologists use the taxonomist's skill to 

 identify positively, from only a feather or two. 

 birds involved in plane strikes and, occasionally 

 crashes. Mammalogists, using infrared or other 

 "black" light, identify rodents previously mis- 

 classified, or devise a more accurate identification 

 technique. Chemists with special training and 



