Posting for a friend who works at this organization. If you are a librarian who works with faculty or students in forestry, agriculture, natural resource management, entomology, zoology, or other natural science subject areas, these are tools worth knowing about. Everything they provide is free for educational use, and the summit is free as well.
Bugwood Summit 2026
April 16, 2026
2 – 5:30pm Eastern Time
Register Here (FREE)
30 Years of Bugwood
Since its founding in 1996, Bugwood has evolved from early CD-ROM projects into a widely used network of online tools and content resources that help organizations communicate science, document species, and support management decisions. Housed at the University of Georgia Tifton Campus, the Bugwood Center continues to identify gaps and deliver practical, accessible tools and solutions for professionals and the public alike.
Attendees will get a closer look at how these tools are being refined to improve usability, strengthen collaboration, and support impact tracking. Real-world examples of "Bugwood Tools in Action" will demonstrate how these resources can be integrated into programs supporting education, outreach, research, and management.
Featured Bugwood Tools include:
- Bugwood Images- an easily accessible archive of over 330,000 high-quality images for use in educational applications. Both native and non-native species are represented. Each entry includes the image source, species taxonomy, and copyright/citation information as shown in this example.
- EDDMapS- combines over 9 million reports from participating databases and organizations to create a national network of shareable invasive species distribution data. All EDDMapS data is reviewed by state verifiers, and it is made freely available to scientists, researchers, land managers, land owners, educators and more.
- Wild Spotter- This "citizen science" tool engages and empowers the public to help find, map, and prevent invasive species in America's wilderness areas, wild rivers, and other natural areas.
- Bugwood Presents, Bugwood Video, and the Regional IPM Centers Resource Database focus on information preservation, storage, and sharing of resource content, including presentations, video, and fact-rich resources.
- Connect - a comprehensive platform providing single sign-on and user profile management across all Bugwood Tools. Connect also supports resource management and tracks user impact data while helping organizations manage members, subscribers, and project resources.
Presentations will be recorded and posted to the Bugwood YouTube channel after the summit. Attendees are encouraged to attend the live presentation so they can ask questions and join the conversation about what's next for Bugwood.
Registration is FREE
Stay Connected
Learn more about Bugwood and follow along during our 30th anniversary year.
Facebook: @bugwoodcenter
Instagram: @bugwood_uga
LinkedIn: @bugwood
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Elizabeth Bittner
Multidisciplinary Librarian
University of Texas At Arlington
She/Her/Hers
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