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

该奖项支持扩建塔尔格拉斯草原生态研究站(TPERS)的战略规划工作，该站将由自然保护协会(NC)、俄克拉荷马州立大学和塔尔萨大学(TU)联合管理。该遗址包括北卡罗来纳州的塔尔格拉斯草原保护区(TGPP)，这是北美最大的受保护的毗连的塔尔格拉斯草原。2004年，TU和TNC在保护区完成了一个重要的研究设施，其中包括一个教室、办公空间和化学实验室。规划工作预计将导致扩大空间站，配备适合野外工作的湿实验室设施、宿舍、厨房/就餐区，以及用于班级旅行和室外样品处理的室外凉亭。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将大幅增加。扩建后的设施将为研究、教育和推广提供理想的平台，专注于TGPP独特的模仿自然动态的管理方法，其中包括自然火灾制度和自由放牧的野牛群。规划工作的重点将是通过为期三天的规划讲习班确定最佳的扩建方向，在此期间，所有感兴趣的各方都可以讨论扩建车站的潜在好处和优先事项。其他活动包括与Konza Prairie野外站人员举行为期两天的联合研讨会，探讨扩大研究方案的合作和整合，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TGPP站扩建的可能性和困难的了解。这一努力最终将导致一种环保的扩建设计，节省能源、水、材料和土地。设计工作将包括俄克拉荷马州立大学建筑系学生的积极参与。在规划工作的帮助下，扩大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境友好型设计，以及加强研究生、本科生和K-12级别的外联和教育能力。

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.