Facilities Improvement at Hastings Natural History Reservation

该合同支持在黑斯廷斯保护区建造新的住房，这是一个位于卡梅尔河谷上端偏远地区的野战站。该奖励将允许用能够容纳6至8人的模块化单元来取代一所有75年历史、状况不佳的房屋。自1937年开始以来，黑斯廷斯的常驻和访问研究人员在基本理解动物社会组织和生态变化的长期模式方面做出了重大贡献。在黑斯廷斯的研究产生的500种出版物中，有许多来自长期居住在空间站或进行一系列重复访问的研究人员进行的长期研究。目前有300多人使用空间站，远远超过6000个用户日，其中三分之二是学生。这意味着用户数量在过去10年中翻了一番。由此产生的住房需求导致最近一些启动长期项目的请求被拒绝。除了对基本认识的贡献外，对黑斯廷斯动物社会组织的研究还出现在英国广播公司、国家地理和探索频道制作的公共教育电影中。黑斯廷斯对当地橡树林地的研究为当前保护橡树林地作为公众宝贵资源的努力提供了原始动力。黑斯廷斯通过外展和与教师的合作为当地的K-12学区提供支持，此外，还为NSF资助的针对城市学生的GK-12项目提供了主要地点。

This award provides support for construction of new housing at the Hastings Reserve, a field station located in a remote area at the upper end of the Carmel River Valley. The award will permit replacement of a 75 year-old house in poor condition with a modular unit able to house 6 to 8 individuals. Since its beginning in 1937, resident and visiting researchers at Hastings have made significant contributions to basic understanding of animal social organization and of long-term patterns of ecological change. Many of the 500 publications resulting from research at Hastings come from long-term studies conducted by researchers living at the station or making a series of repeated visits over a long term. Station use is now at the level of well over 6,000 user-days by over 300 individuals, two-thirds of whom are students. This represents a doubling of the number of users in the last 10 years. The resulting demand for housing has caused some recent requests to initiate long-term projects to be denied. In addition to its contribution to basic understanding, research on the social organization of animals at Hastings has been featured in public education films produced by the BBC, National Geographic, and the Discovery Channel. Research at Hastings on native oak woodlands provided the original impetus for current efforts to protect oak woodlands as valuable resources for the public. Hastings supports the local K-12 school district through outreach and collaborations with teachers and, in addition, provides a primary site for a NSF-funded GK-12 program aimed at urban students.