Planning Activities: Shortgrass Steppe Ecological Research Field Station

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Abstract Ecologists at Colorado State University have been studying the shortgrass steppe ecosystem of eastern Colorado intensively for many years. The current strong focus on the shortgrass steppe represents the continuing development of a research tradition that began in the late 1930's. The major goal for the broad scientific community studying the shortgrass steppe ecosystems of northeastern Colorado is to understand the processes that account for the origin, maintenance and sustainability of shortgrass steppe ecosystems. Much of this research is centered around the Colorado State University (CSU) field station located on the CPER. in northeastern Colorado. The current CSU field station consists of the headquarters area, a residence for the site manager and a corral and pasture area of 53 ha. Three buildings are located in the headquarters area: a dormitory, a storage/workshed building, and an office/laboratory building. Essentially no renovations or improvements have been made at the site since it was built in the late 1960. The CSU field station is heavily utilized for research, education, and public outreach. Eighteen research projects are currently studying the shortgrass steppe and using the CSU facilities at the CPER. Visiting scientists from 36 institutions nationally and internationally have conducted research at this site in the last five years. Each year ten to fifteen classes in use the site several times each year for instruction. In addition, classes from the University of Wyoming utilize the field station for research. The product of the planning process will be a comprehensive master site plan. This plan will consist of an extensive long-term research and education plan for the facility, a governance structure for the facility., a detailed description of the physical structures, detailed institutional/interagency relationships, roles and responsibilities, a long term maintenance plan for the facility, and detailed architectural and engineering plans for the facility.