Fish and Wildlife Reference Service

Note: this WAIS server is under development. It currently contains 50 test citations. When completed, it will contain over 25,000.

The Division of Federal Aid, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, receives monies collected by the U.S. Treasury Department from excise taxes on rifles, shotguns, ammunition and archery equipment under the 1937 Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act, and from excise taxes on fishing tackle, taxes on motorboat fuel and import duties on tackle and boats under the 1950 Dingell-Johnson /Wallop Breaux Sport Fish Restoration Act. The Division of Federal Aid then allocates these monies to the U.S. State fish and wildlife agencies on the basis of the size of the state and the number of licensed hunters and anglers.

The Fish and Wildlife Reference Service (FWRS) receives, indexes, stores and distributes copies of reports produced by State fish and wildlife agencies from research studies supported by Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act and Federal Aid in Wildlife Restoration Act funding. FWRS also receives reports produced by the Anadromous Fish Conservation Program, the Endangered Species Grant Program, and the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units. Additional collections at FWRS include the Lead Shot/Lead Poisoning Clearinghouse, Boating Access/ Boating Facilities Clearinghouse and the Clean Vessel Act Education/Information Clearinghouse.

FWRS was established in 1965 by the Division of Federal Aid under the name of Library Reference Service and operated under contract to the Denver Public Library from 1965 to 1983. Computerized indexing of documents began in 1966.

The FWRS maintains bibliographic databases for citations of documents described above. This Server provides access to the Main Bibliographic database which contains over 25,000 citations. Copies of all documents listed in FWRS databases are available from the Reference Service. Please following the directions below to order copies of documents.

ORDERING DOCUMENTS:

Copies of FWRS documents may be ordered by phone (1-800-582-3421) or by mail (use address below). Orders are shipped within 10 days of receipt. Please order documents by using the 9-digit MIN number located at the bottom of each citation.

Employees of U.S. State and Federal natural resources agencies are considered to be "Cooperators" and are entitled to ONE free document or 100 free pages of photocopies, or 20 free pages of microfiche. All other individuals are considered to be "Clients" and must PRE-PAY in U.S. dollars (check or money order made payable to Fish and Wildlife Reference Service).

COSTS:

Cooperators, that exceed their limit, pay $0.10 per page for Photocopies or $0.50 per fiche for Microfiche and the postage fee of $2.50. Clients must pre-pay or send a Purchase Order for ALL pages of photocopies or microfiche at the rate listed below, and a postage fee of $2.50 for U.S. destinations.

SERVICE           COOPERATORS           CLIENTS 
Photocopy of      100 pages or one      $.10/page  
 Reports            free report 

Microfiche of     20 pages of fiche     $.50/fiche 
 Reports            free of charge

Postage Fees      No Charge if under    $2.50 for  
                    100 page rule        U.S. addresses

Canadian and other foreign Clients will be quoted prices for air-mail delivery of documents. Cooperators pay the $2.50 postage fee when ordering more than One document and exceeding the 100 free pages.

The FWRS can be searched by means of a WAIS server, and general queries are supported. Queries are not case sensitive so upper and lower case letters may be used. A general query will search all the text in a citation. You may wish to review the scientific names, keywords (A - M), and keywords (N - Z) used in the citations. These words can be used in your queries.

Examples of General Queries

disease

(Find all citations that contain the word disease)

deer or elk

(Find all citations that contain the words deer or elk)

elk and cattle

(Find all citations that contain the word elk and the word cattle)

'new mexico' not 'colorado river basin'

(Find all citations that contain the word pair, new mexico, but do not contain the word string, colorado river basin)

How to Query the FWRS

1. Select the word QUERY below.
2. Select the Fish and Wildlife Reference Service.
3. Enter your query.
4. Select the maximum number of results you wish to see.
5. Select the Submit button.
6. Scroll down the screen to see the results of your query.
7. Click on the high-lighted word(s) of the result(s) you would like to read, print, or save.
8. Use your client software's "Back" icon or "History" function to return to the query screen.

QUERY the Fish and Wildlife Reference Service

Please direct questions and comments, via mail or telephone, to:

   Fish and Wildlife Reference Service                
   5430 Grosvenor Lane, Suite 110                     
   Bethesda, MD  20814-2142                           
                                                                  
   800-582-3421 or 301-492-6403
   FAX: 301-564-4059