Tom Talks - A Step Back in Time

Have you ever wondered what the land looked like before we arrived? Field station ecologist, Tom Simpson, will share the big picture of pre-European settlement ecology. Afterwards, volunteer coordinator, Jackie Bero, will showcase how to search the history of your site using free, publicly accessible resources. Links to resources shown in the video: Google Earth download - https://www.google.com/earth/versions/ Google Earth Earthpoint (for TRS) - http://www.earthpoint.us/TownshipsSearchByLatLon.aspx HistoricAerials.com - https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer NRCS FOIA request email - [email protected] History of NRCS FSA photos - https://www.fsa.usda.gov/programs-and-services/aerial-photography/ USGS TopoView website - https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/40.01/-100.06 How to Read Topo Maps - https://www.topozone.com/how-to-read-topographic-maps/ Topo Map Legend Symbols - https://www.topozone.com/topographic-map-legend-symbols/ FEMA Floodplain Maps - https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home FEMA Floodplain Zones info - https://www.fema.gov/disaster/updates/fema-flood-maps-and-zones-explained Web Soil Survey - https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps - https://www.loc.gov/collections/sanborn-maps McHenry County Assessor Parcel Search - https://mchenryil.devnetwedge.com/ McHenry County Interactive GIS Viewer - https://www.mchenrycountygis.org/Athena/ McHenry County Interactive Historical GIS Viewer - https://www.mchenrycountygis.org/historic Hathitrust Online Digital Library - https://www.hathitrust.org/ History of McHenry County Book (1922) - https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008720357 McHenry County Historical Society - https://mchenrycountyhistory.org/i-countywide-resources