NIRMI (
Northwest
Indiana
Restoration
Monitoring
Inventory) seeks
to facilitate and administer the long-term monitoring of ecological restorations in the greater Calumet
Region of northwest Indiana, northeast Illinois, and southwest Michigan.
We fuse standardized techniques for monitoring ecosystems
(e.g. sampling and identification of plant species) with data management and statistical evaluation
to compose and maintain a web-based, open-access, real-time inventory of restoration progress in the
Calumet region. NIRMI brings together academic standards of research with contemporary ecological techniques
and concerns, while training future scientists in critical skills for the evaluation and understanding
of restorations.