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Post by bandrow on Mar 2, 2019 9:23:10 GMT -8
Greetings, I've built up my collection by stopping in the first Walmart I see when visiting a state for the first time - they always have them and usually at a reasonable price. They vary depending on state as far as price - Texas is $20+ while Nebraska is less than $10 - certainly due to the varying number of pages, as most have a similar scale - around 6 miles/inch, if I remember correctly. But - like most things these days - they're available online: www.walmart.com/ip/Delorme-Colorado-Atlas-Gazetteer/1051500I checked Wally World just for an example - looks like Amazon, Garmin and other sites offer them too. I'd also check Ebay - you may be able to buy some used ones. As the gazetteers age, the roads may change a bit due to new construction, closures, route number changes, etc., but the topography stays the same. Except for the Pittsburgh area, of course, where a combination of landslides, mine subsidence and terra-forming to build new Walmarts changes the land annually. Cheers! Bandrow
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Post by bandrow on Mar 2, 2019 9:29:03 GMT -8
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leptraps
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Posts: 2,397
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Post by leptraps on Mar 2, 2019 17:54:41 GMT -8
I have all of the Gazetter except RI, CN, MA, VT, NH and DC.
When ever I travel out west, or for that matter, anytime I go collecting I take the Gazetter for any state I intend on Collecting or traveling in. I have the Gazetteers for Kentucky and Indiana in my car, permanently. I mark all my collecting locations, including the actual GPS location on my Gazetteers.
I use yellow sticky notes for description of location, species of interest, just about anything note worthy. If I encounter other Lepidopterist and they provide location for species I really want, it goes on sticky notes.
I take time to record data.
While at meetings or looking through a collection, I record the data from the label and the species name or MONA number on sticky notes. When I return to my car or my home, the sticky notes are placed in the appropriate gazeteer.
Some of the print on the map pages will stick to the glue on the sticky note. I always place them on the white boarders, never on the printed area.
A little extra work/effort can pay rich dividends next week, next month or even years later.
Any questions? And it is Okay to own more the one copy of any gazeteer!
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Post by exoticimports on Mar 3, 2019 5:54:34 GMT -8
I use the Gazeteer for hiking, but for your interests I use it to find bugs. Given that wildlife sanctuaries are typically unique environments and/ or prime wildlife lands, they are generally good for insect studies. However, they are off limits. BUT in many cases (1) there are roads running immediately adjacent to the sanctuary with private property on the other side and (2) similar terrain nearby can be identified.
The Gazeteers don't have "find bugs here" signs. But let's say you're looking for a species that lives in bogs. If you know that your study target has been found in Bog A, you can use the Gazeteer to find other "ponds" that may also have bogs at one end. There ya go.
As another example, the Ontario contingent, focused on finding Cecropia, can use topo maps to rule out swamps, the raised Canadian Shield, etc. While I can't find a Delorme Gazetteer for Ontario, certainly topo maps do exist. The astute reader of topo maps should be able to identify forested and/or suburban areas that are heavy with maple, ruling out oak and pine forests based on topography.
Which reminded me of a funny story.
When I was in high school I had to take the science Regents exam, which included geology. In class we practiced for the exam by taking prior exams. One question provided a lakeshore topo map and asked what kind of geology existed there. I got the answer "wrong". This annoyed me to no no end, since I was intimately familiar with the place in the question, and the "correct" answer was clearly wrong, generated by some moron who could neither read topo maps nor been to that location.
I flagged the incorrect elements to my teacher, and in doing so learned a life lesson about "don't give a ###" because when I took the Regents exam the question was still there, and undoubtedly still wrong. Stupid me, I actually thought the teacher would do something about it. So I answered the question with the correct question, and undoubtedly lowered my grade, being my first lesson in "you can be right or you can be happy."
Chuck
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