"This book is a product of the New York State Biodiversity Project, initiated in late 1999 to improve our understanding of the state's biodiversity and to identify both challenges and solutions to protecting that biodiversity. Coordinated by the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, the project is a unique partnership among five New York organizations: American Museum of Natural History, Center forBiodiversity and Conservation, New York State Biodiversity Research Institute, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York Natural Heritage Program [and] The Nature Conservancy"--p. IV.