| University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center | |
| Established: | 1936 |
| Country: | United States |
| Website: | https://underc.nd.edu/ |
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.
UNDERC-East [1] encompasses 7500acres (land = 6150acres and lakes/bogs/streams = 1350acres) lying at 46.2167°N -121°W along the state line of Wisconsin (Vilas County) and Michigan (Gogebic County). UNDERC-East is the National Ecological Observatory Network[2] (NEON) site for increasing the understanding of how forest management impacts ecological processes in the Great Lakes Region (Domain #5).[3]
UNDERC-West [4] lies at 47.4833°N -130°W and is located in the Mission Valley of Montana (Lake County). UNDERC-West encompasses more than 1000000acres administered by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes [5] with whom the University of Notre Dame partners in the UNDERC-West project.