Tall Timbers Research Station (TTRS) was chartered in 1958 to conduct original research on the role of fire in the ecology of forest environments in the Southeastern Coastal Plain. This project will enable TTRS to renovate the 29-year old Stoddard Research Laboratory and expand the existing 9,416 square foot facility with an additional 8,103 square feet of floor space. Tall Timbers Research Station consists of 1,800 ha in northern Leon County Florida. The station is located in the midst of more than 150,000 ha of private hunting plantations, most of which are available to station scientists for research. Additionally, Tall Timbers holds a conservation and research easement on one of the last remaining examples of late successional longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) forest where the ground cover vegetation has not been disturbed by agriculture. While the land resources available for research at TTRS are outstanding, the Stoddard Research Laboratory, the main research facility at TTRS, is outdated, overcrowded, and no longer capable of supporting the research mission of the institution. A major objective of the Stoddard Lab renovation and expansion project is to provide office and laboratory space for visiting scientists. Presently, no office or laboratory space is allocated for visiting scientists at Tall Timbers. After this project is completed 1,397 square feet of office and laboratory space will be available for exclusive use by visiting scientists and students. An additional 5,694 square feet of shared space will also be available to visiting researchers. The renovation and expansion will result in a net gain of 4,841 square feet of office, laboratory and storage space for visiting scientists who want to work at Tall Timbers. The renovation and expansion will also provide needed space for a significant and expanding research station library collection that serves not only station and visiting scientists, but also provides a computerized fire ecolo gy information service to fire ecology researchers throughout the world.
