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University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC) has two locations in North America serving as natural laboratories for scientists studying ecology and environmental biology. These locations serve as "natural" laboratories for the study of environmental systems that have experienced little or no degradation from humans and as a baseline for comparison with human disturbed systems.
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UNDERC-EAST
UNDERC-East encompasses 7,500 acres (30 km2) (land = 6,150 acres (24.9 km2) and lakes/bogs/streams = 1,350 acres (5.5 km2)) lying at 46'13'N latitude and 89'32'W longitude along the state line of Wisconsin (Vilas County) and Michigan (Gogebic County). UNDERC-East is the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) site for increasing the understanding of how forest management impacts ecological processes in the Great Lakes Region (Domain #5).
UNDERC-WEST
UNDERC-West lies at 47'29' latitude and -114'16' longitude and is located in the Mission Valley of Montana (Lake County). UNDERC-West encompasses more than 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km2) administered by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes with whom the University of Notre Dame partners in the UNDERC-West project.