Planning for a Great Basin Ecological Observatory: from NevCAN to the Spring Valley Field Station

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This project will support strategic planning for the Spring Valley Field Station, located in the Great Basin of North America. Long-term changes in forest ecosystems are difficult to predict and detect, and field stations allow for multi-year investigations that are otherwise very difficult to perform. While this project will utilize existing long-term infrastructure associated with the Nevada Climate-eco-hydrological Assessment Network (NevCAN), it will support new biological research and education on Great Basin species, from sagebrush to the iconic bristlecone pine. The station will therefore contribute to ecological studies in a semi-arid region that is considered at risk of widespread mortality linked to warmer droughts. The main objective of this project is to develop a long-term vision for the station, together with a realistic management strategy during its first five years.Three NevCAN sites, from the sagebrush steppe on the valley floor to the bristlecone pine stands at the subalpine tree-line, will be part of the Spring Valley Field Station to capture ecological patterns and processes over a 2000-m elevation gradient. The station will fill a growing demand for long-term information on Great Basin population dynamics, ecosystem processes, threats to biodiversity from invasive species, and overall resilience to future climatic changes, especially in connection with forward-looking resource management, conservation, and restoration. A one-week workshop to be held at the end of August near the proposed station will bring together university faculty and stakeholders from inside and outside of Nevada to draft the master planning document, including a facility needs, details of data management, and fee structure. The Great Basin is characterized by both an upper and a lower tree-line, hence the Spring Valley Field Station will be ideally suited to investigate the linkages between climate and ecosystem dynamics in space and time, including the expansion, retreat, or persistence of trailing and leading ecotonal edges.