Lessons From A Dynamic Natural Landscape: A Planning Proposal for The Tallgrass Prairie Ecological Research Station

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This award supports a strategic planning effort for an expanded Tallgrass Prairie Ecological Research Station (TPERS), which will be jointly managed by The Nature Conservancy (NC), Oklahoma State University, and the University of Tulsa (TU). The site includes the NC's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve (TGPP), the largest protected, contiguous Tallgrass prairie in North America. In 2004, TU and TNC completed a substantial research facility at the preserve that includes a classroom, office space, and chemistry laboratories. The planning effort is expected to lead to an expanded station with facilities for wet labs appropriate for fieldwork, dormitories, a kitchen/dining area, and an outdoor pavilion for class trips and outdoor processing of samples. Expansion of TPERS would mean a substantial increase in the number and type of researchers and students who use the facility. The expanded facility will provide an ideal platform for research, education, and outreach that focus on the unique natural-dynamics-mimicking management approach at the TGPP, which includes a natural fire regime and free-ranging bison herds. The planning effort will focus on identifying the best direction for expansion through a three-day planning workshop during which all interested parties can discuss the potential benefits and priorities for station expansion. Additional activities include a two-day joint symposium to be held with Konza Prairie Field Station personnel that will explore expanded collaboration and integration of research programs, and site visits by the PI and other station personnel to similar, established field stations with the goal of increasing understanding of the possibilities for and difficulties in expanding the TGPP station. The effort will eventually lead to an environmentally friendly design for the expansion that conserves energy, water, materials and the land. The design effort will include active participation by Oklahoma State architecture students. With the aid of the planning effort, the benefits of the expansion will include new research relevant to conservation, restoration, and remediation, an environmentally friendly design of facilities that will benefit the environment and an enhanced capacity for outreach and education at the graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 levels.