A decidedly bold title for this page, which is just getting its start, and for this section of the website. The intention here is to create a resource that can help you learn more about and better understand the natural environment in New England – Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
There are of course nature guides you can purchase that cover New England organisms and natural places, and we will be reviewing and recommending them as we can find time. These are very helpful and there are also a lot of other great resources available. So why are we even considering creating the resource we want to build here?
One reason is the lack of constraints in the amount of information we can provide on the web. We see our information falling between the two extremes that guides versus scientific treatments of a regions biota tend to fall into. First there are general books that cover a lot of ground. They typically provide a general overview, often including many commonly encountered species and a treatment that is a nice for a novice or newcomer to the region. I would never be able to create such a resource myself because I would never be able to decide what to leave out. This must be done in a general guide and once you get a little up to speed with things you may find you need more detailed information.
On a website the things that are left can be treated as things that one just has not gotten to yet. We are not limited to a 200 or 300 or really any page limit like a book format. Hopefully over time this guide will rise to the level of covering some general topics, like a general guide does, in a way way that is informative, instructive and helpful.
The second type of nature guide is more specific. Rather than being a broad brush and leaving things out, this resource seeks to be comprehensive in treating a particular group, topic or place. When these are done well they become an invaluable resource for the subject the cover. Often though they offer too much detail for someone that is interested in the organisms covered but is not a specialist. It is perhaps difficult to make sense of all the scientific terminology and distinctions, and often the book is fairly expensive. One way this web guide can be helpful is to provide information about certain groups and from there point out more definitive resources you can potentially explore. In more and more cases there are even other great web resources that can referenced, in addition to some really great published works.
A website too can get as specific as one wants to go. We hope as time goes by there can be more and more specialized information added to the site too. And that this information is something that those interested in New England’s natural habitats and organisms will turn to in order to answer their questions and even further their curiosity.