Thanks for your interest in the Flathead Lake Biological Station. It is a great place to do ecological research, take an advanced field class in ecological science, participate in one of our innovative workshops or simply enjoy the lake shore and the sights and sounds of our Old Growth Forest.

Our research continues to contribute a greater understanding to how natural and human sources of environmental change determine the distribution and abundance of animals and plants in the Crown of the Continent Ecosystem. Our approach is to conduct experiments and long-term studies of ecological processes, such as the response of phytoplankton to inputs of plant growth nutrients from the Flathead River system into Flathead Lake. Our research results are routinely used by government agencies and citizens to help design conservation strategies to sustain the land and water resources that make this area of Montana such a wonderful place to live.

This year we have revamped and diversified our annual summer academic session. We have developed two series of concentrated 2-week courses: an aquatic ecology series and a terrestrial ecology series. In addition, we have retained some of our traditional 4- and 8-week courses. All of our courses carry undergraduate or graduate credits. Our professors teach mainly outside in the natural world with forays into the varied environments of the Flathead Valley, Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Taking summer field courses at the Flathead Lake Biological Station is an alternative and fun way to complete required and elective courses for degree plans at most universities, while also enjoying the fantastic hiking, fishing, and wildlife of western Montana.

Our facilities are among the best in the nation's field station network. You'll love the setting at Yellow Bay, living with other students in cabins in the forest along the lakeshore and boarding together in our commissary overlooking the lake. Our laboratories contain state-of-the-art research equipment and our research vessel, the Jessie B, allows us to work on the big lake year round and in any weather. Our facilities are new or recently remodeled and we have an aggressive capital campaign for improvements and endowments.

Environmental stewardship guidance based on sound science is the business of the Flathead Lake Biological Station. People from all over the world come to work and learn with us. Many remain as life- long friends. If you cannot visit, you can receive our Flathead Lake Journal and keep up on station activities. I certainly hope you will visit and take advantage of the legacy of learning on the shore of Flathead Lake. We need your continuing support of our work and participation in our varied research and academic programs.

I hope to see you soon at Flathead Lake.