The El Verde Field Station has been a vital location for research and training in the only neotropical rain forest under the jurisdiction of the United States. The field station is located in the Caribbean National Forest, which is an Experimental Forest, a Biosphere Reserve, a research site for the University of Puerto Rico Center for Research Excellence in Science and Technology, and the site of the Luquillo LongTerm Ecological Research Program. For more than 30 years, the field station has been the focus of projects by scientists from more than 50 institutions in the United States and other countries. Current research projects are funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the USDA Forest Service. Research facilities at the El Verde Field Station date to the 1930s and their current size restricts ongoing research activities. One weakness of the Station is the lack of experimental plant growth and stream facilities. Such facilities would allow plant and animal experiments under controlled conditions. Previous attempts to germinate or grow high elevation plant species from the EL Verde Area at low elevation facilities in San Juan have shown that plants become physiologically stressed (i.e. stunted growth as a result of extreme temperatures and humidity). Similarly, the amount of detail and control needed to study the ecology and behavior of aquatic organisms of the area is severely limited by the lack of experimental streams. Another important limitation to research as well as administrative work at El Verde is the lack of a reliable power plant to deal with recurrent electrical power failures. This project will enact the third of five phases described in the Master Plan for the Development of Facilities Operated by the University of Puerto Rico in the Luquillo Experimental Forest.
