Development of Indio Mountains Research Station Headquarters, Phase II

在曾傑瑞·约翰逊博士的指导下，德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校获得了一笔赠款，用于部分支持建造一座自给自足的多用途建筑，以容纳扩大的烹饪设施和就餐区，该区域还将容纳印第安奥山脉研究站的会议和课堂活动。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将与其他四个研究地点连接起来，创建一条横跨奇瓦瓦沙漠北部1000公里的横断面。所有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，将有助于全面了解北美最大的沙漠产生的居民生物群和生态因素。2)开发该网站作为教育设施：在过去五年中，除了UTEP外，该网站还支持其他19所大学和学院、三所埃尔帕索高中和其他有关方面作为网站：生物学、地质学、人类学、环境科学和工程学的实地考察；教职员工、研究生、本科生和在职教师的研究项目；外联活动；用于研究和课堂使用的标本收集有限。该研究所继续为学生提供在奇瓦瓦沙漠的各种栖息地开展教育项目和实地研究的绝佳机会，特别是为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%的招生是西班牙裔。新大楼将极大地增强IMRS容纳这些学生的能力。3)场地保护：IMRS不仅是一个野外站，而且是一个被私人土地包围的自然保护区，放牧是常见的活动。放牧被排除在几乎所有的综合管理系统之外已有20多年的时间，并已导致许多本地物种的显著恢复。随着拟议的新设施的建立，IMRS的使用量将会增加，这反过来应该会带来更好的保护。新的和扩建的设施将导致更多地使用管理信息系统，并可使未来有一个或多或少长期的现场管理员的职位。

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.