Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              1
I LLINOIS
NATURAL
HI STORY
S U R V E Y R e p o r t s
Summer 2000
No. 364
I N S I D E
Exotic Shrubs and
Songbird Nest Success
2
Illinois Pilot Watershed
Program
3
An Outpost on the Way
to a Solution: Rotation-
Resistant Western Corn
Rootworms and the
C-FAR Sentinel Grants
Program
4
New Newsletter Publi-cation
Schedule
5
Species Spotlight:
Terrestrial Isopods
6
The Naturalist's
Apprentice:
Up Close and Personal
7
Continued on back page
New INHS Building Planned
After several years of planning,
the Survey may soon begin
construction on a new building
with the working title of Natural
History Research Center. A site
has been selected, architects are
working on the design, and partial
funding is in hand. While much
remains to be done, we hope that
bids can be taken on Phase I be-fore
this time next year. This new
Natural History Re search Center
will provide offi ces, laboratories,
and specialized facilities for up to
400 people (250 scien tists, plus
150 support staff and students).
Total building size is projected at
about 210,000 gross square feet
and 125,105 net square feet.
For the last 60 years, the Il-linois
Natural History Survey
and the State Geological Survey
have jointly occupied the Natural
Resources Building on Peabody
Drive in Champaign. Inadequate
space has been a critical problem
for many years. In October 1988
a study by the University of Il-linois
identifi ed a combined space
shortage of over 100,000 net
square feet for the two Surveys.
By August 1997 the shortage had
in creased to nearly 150,000 net
square feet. In addition, the Sur-veys
lack certain specialized fa-cilities
necessary for modern dis-covery
research. When this build-ing
is completed and the Natural
History Survey moves from the
Natural Resources Building, the
State Geological Survey will ex-pand
into the vacated space. By
these two moves, the immediate
and critical space needs of both
Sur veys will be addressed.
The new facility will be lo-cated
on the University of Illinois
Urbana campus, just south of
Gregory Drive and facing Dorner
Drive immediately north of the
Plant Sciences Laboratory. This
location is within easy walking
distance of all of our primary
collaborators in both the College
of Agricultural, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences and the
Architectural rendering of the Natural History Research Center. Drawing courtesy of Teng and Associates Inc., Chicago