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

该奖项支持扩大高草草原生态研究站（TPERS）的战略规划工作，该研究站将由大自然保护协会（NC）、俄克拉荷马州州立大学和塔尔萨大学（TU）联合管理。 该网站包括北卡罗来纳州的高草草原保护区（TGPP），最大的保护，连续高草草原在北美。 2004年，TU和TNC在保护区完成了大量的研究设施，包括教室，办公空间和化学实验室。 规划工作预计将导致一个扩大的工作站，其设施包括适合现场工作的湿实验室、宿舍、厨房/用餐区以及用于班级旅行和样品户外处理的户外亭子。 扩大TPERS将意味着使用该设施的研究人员和学生的数量和类型大幅增加。 扩建后的设施将为研究、教育和推广提供一个理想的平台，重点关注TGPP独特的自然动力学模拟管理方法，其中包括自然火灾制度和自由放养的野牛群。 规划工作的重点将是通过为期三天的规划讲习班确定扩建的最佳方向，在讲习班期间，所有有关各方都可以讨论扩建台站的潜在好处和优先事项。 其他活动包括将与Konza Prairie野外站人员举行的为期两天的联合研讨会，该研讨会将探讨研究计划的扩大合作和整合，以及PI和其他站人员对类似的已建立的野外站进行现场访问，目的是增加对扩大TGPP站的可能性和困难的了解。这一努力最终将导致一个环保的设计，为扩大节省能源，水，材料和土地。设计工作将包括俄克拉荷马州建筑学生的积极参与。 在规划工作的帮助下，扩建的好处将包括与保护，恢复和补救相关的新研究，有利于环境的设施的环保设计，以及增强研究生，本科生和K-12水平的推广和教育能力。

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.