Coordinated Planning of Field Station Support in the Jornada Basin, NM

该奖项支持一项专注于新墨西哥州南部两个相邻研究设施的规划工作，这两个设施是新墨西哥州州立大学的奇瓦瓦沙漠牧场研究中心(CDRRC)和农业研究服务局的Jornada实验场(JER)。这两家公司都拥有长期的教育和研究记录。这两个研究所都是在上个世纪初建立的，目的是研究荒漠化过程、半干旱生态系统的结构和功能以及干旱牧场的管理。自1982年以来，由美国国家科学基金会资助的乔尔纳达盆地长期生态研究计划在这两处房产的遗址网络上进行了长期观察和实验操作。然而，各设施的基础设施投资一直不均衡；尤其是CDRRC在为游客、研究人员和教育用户提供基本公用事业和服务方面落后。在该奖项的支持下，CDRRC、JER和LTER研究人员以及其他用户正在启动一项联合规划计划，以概述和确定升级站点服务的步骤。这将包括研究其他学术和联邦所有权混合的遗址的类似规划工作，并制定一个有序的计划，以定位资源和投资于场地改善。由于它与新墨西哥州立大学(一家位于美墨边境地区的土地赠款、为拉美裔提供服务的机构)有关联，这些网站还为代表性不足的群体提供了重要的培训功能。

This award supports a planning effort focused on two adjacent research facilities in southern New Mexico, the Chihuahuan Desert Rangeland Research Center (CDRRC) of New Mexico State University and the Jornada Experimental Range (JER) of the Agricultural Research Service. The two boast long track records of education and research. Both were established early in the last century for research into desertification processes, semi-arid ecosystem structure and function, and management of dry rangelands. Since 1982, the NSF-funded Jornada Basin Long Term Ecological Research Program has carried out long-term observations and experimental manipulations on a network of sites across both properties. However, infrastructure investments have been uneven across the facilities; in particular, the CDRRC lags behind in providing basic utilities and services for visitors, researchers, and educational users. With the support of this award, CDRRC, JER, and LTER researchers and other users are initiating a joint planning program to outline and prioritize steps in upgrading services at the sites. This will include study of similar planning efforts at other sites with a mix of academic and federal ownerships, and the development of an orderly plan for locating resources and investing in site improvements. Because of its affiliation with New Mexico State University (a land grant, Hispanic-serving institution in the US-Mexico border region), the sites also serve an important training function for under-represented groups.