FSML: Construction of a Multi-user Facility at the Jornada Experimental Range Field Station

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces NM

Investigators

Abstract

New Mexico State University has been awarded a grant for a multi-user facility to enhance access to research and education at the Jornada Experimental Range. Established in 1912, research at Jornada has resulted in one of the longest records of ecological data and resulting publications in existence for desert landscapes. This knowledge base has been a major contribution to understanding key ecological processes and properties of the Chihuahuan Desert, and ecological principles that apply to the 1/3PrdP of the world?s land surface that is arid rangeland. The facility participates in a broad array of important national science programs, including as one of the original cohorts of Long Term Ecological Research sites and now a proposed relocatable site within the National Ecological Observation Network, has elevated the Jornada into a unique status as a multi-agency, multi-dimensional, and international scientific facility of major importance for arid lands, their conservation, and their management. The award will greatly improve capabilities for research and education at the Jornada by providing funds to construct a 2000 sq. ft. P multi-user facility to support research and training for scientists, students, land managers, and the general public. The facility will provide space visiting scientist offices, storage and meeting spaces, data management and sample preparation. Over 50 agencies, institutions, non-government organizations, and universities from 4 continents are actively collaborating with the research program will benefit from the facility. The facility will have major Jornada is a key site for training of land managers of both public and private rangelands that comprise nearly 50% of the land area of the US. Jornada provides sites for education programs for over 10,000 students and teachers per year in collaboration with the Asombro Institute for Science Education.