The University of Colorado, Boulder is awarded a grant to expand and renovate the Kiowa Laboratory at the Mountain Research Station (MRS). The project will meet the increasing demands for laboratory and teaching space at the MRS which are currently at full capacity. Teaching and laboratory space will be increased by 1055 ft2, or 30% of existing teaching and lab space. The renovated and expanded Kiowa Laboratory will provide general lab and teaching space for students and researchers, including flexible space that can be used by individual researchers for tasks such as sorting and weighing samples, microscopy, soil preparation, and assembling field equipment. The space will also be utilized as classrooms for visiting academic-year courses from K-12 schools and the main CU campus, and MRS field courses. The project will specifically benefit K-12 outreach associated with several programs, including an ongoing NSF GK12 program from CU, and an elementary school Alpine Ecology program fun by CU Science Discovery and the MRS that targets inner-city schools from the Denver Public School system. Research programs that will benefit from the expansion include the Boulder Creek Crustal Zone Observatory, a NSF REU site grant, the Niwot Ridge LTER program, NEON (MRS is a core site for the Southern Rockies/ Colorado Plateau Domain), and numerous individual researchers who use the MRS as a base for their field work.
The MRS is an interdisciplinary research facility of the University of Colorado established in 1920, devoted to the advancement of the study of mountain ecosystems. The mission of the MRS is to facilitate research and education to better understand the unique patterns and processes of biotic and physical systems in mountains, and how environmental changes may influence these patterns and processes. The MRS is located 40 km west of the main CU Boulder campus, at 2900 m in the Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains, on the 85 ha Columbine Springs Preserve owned by the University. The property is surrounded by the Arapaho National Forest, and is within 5 km of the City of Boulder watershed. There are numerous biological communities in the subalpine zone surrounding the MRS, including lodgepole pine, spruce-fir, and aspen forests, subalpine meadows, wetlands, and lakes and streams, reflecting the diverse topography and disturbance history of the region. Further information about MRS may be found at www.colorado.edu/mrs/.
