The Center for Wildlife and Plant Ecology (CWE) conducts basic and applied research on wildlife, their habitats, and the wetlands of Illinois. The Center is composed of research biologists, ecologists, and support personnel with funding coming from the state budget and from extramural grants and contracts. The Center includes four groups. The Wildlife Group focuses upon the ecology, populations, and management of terrestrial and wetland wildlife and their habitats. The Wetlands Group conducts biological surveys and determinations of wetlands, participates in studies of mitigation of wetlands, and conducts studies of wetland soils, and plant and animal communities. The GIS group conducts landscape analyses that help determine the extent and condition of different community and habitat types in support of conservation policy decisions. Our fourth group studies human attitudes toward wildlife and wildlife management decisions. Scientists in the Center are prominent members of the wildlife research community and have a long heritage of leadership and credibility in research.