Since 1999 research on the Eastern Massasauga in Illinois is ongoing, we demographically monitor a focal population annually. The broad scope of the project is to conserve and recover the species. The research has or is being addressed is interdisciplinary and covers spatial ecology, energetics, genetics, thermal ecology, demographics, and viability. Thus, the research has covered many aspects of the species’ ecology from spatial to physiological. It has been a fully collaborative efforts with researchers at the INHS, to specialists at other institutions. The major collaborators on this project are Dr. Christopher Phillips, Dr. Sarah Baker, and Dr. Matthew Allender.