Development of Indio Mountains Research Station Headquarters, Phase II

在Jerry Johnson博士的指导下，德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（University of Texas at El Paso）获得了一笔赠款，用于部分支持建造一座独立的多用途建筑，以容纳扩建的烹饪设施和用餐区，同时还将容纳印第奥山脉研究站（IMRS）的会议和课堂活动。新的建设将使IMRS能够实现以下长期目标：1)加强研究工作：IMRS将与其他四个研究站点联系起来，在奇瓦瓦沙漠北部建立一个1000公里的横断面。所有的研究地点都具有与奇瓦瓦沙漠生态系统相关的独特品质。将这些地点的研究信息联系起来，将大大有助于获得产生北美最大沙漠的常驻生物群和生态因素的全面知识。新建筑将促进其他地点的研究人员利用IMRS的能力。2)将该地点发展为教育设施：在过去的五年中，除了UTEP之外，IMRS还支持了其他19所大学和学院，三所埃尔帕索高中和其他感兴趣的团体，作为生物学，地质学，人类学和环境科学与工程的实地考察；教师、研究生、本科生和在职教师研究项目；推广活动;以及用于研究和课堂使用的有限标本收集。IMRS继续为学生提供极好的机会，让他们在奇瓦瓦沙漠的各种栖息地进行教育项目和实地研究，特别是对那些在科学学科中代表性不足的少数民族学生。UTEP是美国大陆最大的少数族裔大学，71%的学生是西班牙裔。新楼将大大提高IMRS容纳这些学生的能力。3)站址保护：IMRS不仅是一个野外观测站，也是一个被私人土地包围的自然保护区，放牧是常见的活动。20多年来，放牧已被排除在几乎所有的IMRS之外，并导致许多本地物种的显著恢复。拟议中的新设施将增加IMRS的使用，这反过来又会带来更好的保护。新的和扩建的设施将导致更多地使用综合管理资料系统，并可能允许将来有一个或多或少的永久性现场管理员的职位。

A grant has been awarded to the University of Texas at El Paso under the direction of Dr. Jerry Johnson for partial support of the construction of a self contained multipurpose building to house an expanded cooking facility and dining area that will also accommodate meetings and classroom activities at the Indio Mountains Research Station (IMRS). The new construction will allow the IMRS to meet the following long-term objectives: 1) Enhancement of research efforts: The IMRS will be linked with four other research sites to create a 1000 km transect across the northern Chihuahuan Desert. All research sites have unique qualities associated with the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. Linking research information from these sites will go a long ways toward gaining overall knowledge of the resident biota and ecological factors that produced North America's largest desert. The new building will facilitate the ability of researchers from other sites to utilize the IMRS.2) Development of the site as an educational facility: The IMRS has supported during the last five years, in addition to UTEP, 19 other universities and colleges, three El Paso high schools, and other interested parties as a site for: field trips in biology, geology, anthropology, and environmental science and engineering; faculty, graduate, undergraduate, and in-service teacher research projects; outreach activities; and limited collection of specimens for research and classroom use. IMRS continues to provide excellent opportunities for students to conduct educational projects and field research in a variety of Chihuahuan Desert habitats, especially for minority students who are underrepresented in scientific disciplines. UTEP is the largest majority-minority university in the continental U.S., with 71% of the enrollment being of Hispanic descent. The new building will greatly enhance the ability of IMRS to accomodate these students.3) Protection of the site: IMRS is not only a field station, but is also a nature reserve that is surrounded by private land where livestock grazing is the common activity. Grazing has been excluded from almost all of IMRS for over 20 years and has resulted in significant recovery of a number of native species. With the proposed new facility will come increased IMRS usage, which in turn should lead to even better protection. The new and expanded facilities, which will lead to greater use of IMRS and could allow for the future position of a more or less permanent on-site caretaker.