Message from David R. Brooks I think franchises, especially those in the states listed below, might be interested in this message from Henry Mount, a soil scientist with the USDA. The list is of states where he currently has NO temperature monitoring in place. Even if your state isn't on this list, it can't hurt to express an interest. Participation in the project involves burying two soil temperature probes -- one at 50 cm and the other at 10 cm -- and mounting an air temperature probe about 1 m above the ground. These probes are connected to dataloggers that automatically record temperature five times a day. After one year, you dig up the probes and send the entire assembly back for analysis. In return, you will get access to the data. If Dr. Mount would like data from your location, there is no cost for the equipment -- only the cost of sending it back at the end of a year. This isn't the greatest hands-on activity because there's nothing to do except wait for a year after the probes are buried. However, these measurements are extremely valuable from a science point of view and they are closely related to GLOBE soil temperature measurements because the 10 cm probe is at the same depth as one of the two GLOBE measurements (5 cm and 10 cm). Thus, at the end of the year, you would have a complete record from dataloggers against which to compare manual measurements made during the year. The list of states where I would entertain soil temperature monitoring include - Maryland Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Michigan Minnesota North Dakota Montana Oregon Georgia New Mexico Vermont Thanks for promoting this technology. HENRY MOUNT Soil Scientist USDA NRCS NSSC Lincoln, Nebraska hmount@gw.nssc.nrcs.usda.gov