Some of this information comes from a natural history museum in New York, some comes from a university in California, and some comes from the Department of Agriculture in Washington. In a short time, the team is able to retrieve and combine this information to learn what plants and animals lived on the site in the past. They can begin to plan how they could restore much of the original habitat and return the site to its former state as a healthy natural ecosystem. The restored prairie becomes a source of community pride and also helps to raise property values of nearby homes. Practically everyone in today's society is interested in finding information about the environment.
Citizens can find out all kinds of environmental information.
The data are available in government and non-government files, publications, computers, libraries, botanical gardens, and museums around the country and the world. Federal, state, local, and many private sector organizations monitor the environment continuously. The Department of the Interior collects information about floods, biological systems, earthquakes, and geological formations. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration collects vast quantities of oceanographic atmospheric and geophysical data. The amount of information on the environment is incredible.