INSTAAR Mountain Research Station

Mountain Research Station

John W. Marr Alpine Laboratory, housing offices, bookshop, Mountain Climate Program, plant and soil laboratories, herbarium, insect collection, and library.

See Also:
Main MRS website
Niwot Ridge LTER

The below information is from the INSTAAR 2001-2002 Biennial Report. The 2003-2004 report will be published in Spring 2005.

The Mountain Research Station (MRS), located near Nederland, 25 miles from Boulder, is an interdisciplinary research facility of the University of Colorado devoted to the advancement of study of mountain ecosystems. Its mission is to facilitate research and education to better understand the unique patterns and processes of biological and physical systems in mountains, and how environmental changes may affect these processes.

The MRS was established in 1921 and has continued to serve as an outstanding facility in field education and research. Research on nearby Niwot Ridge has contributed substantially to our understanding of the environmental science of mountain systems and is recognized internationally for its excellence. Approximately 40 researchers per year use the MRS as a base of operations, including faculty and students from CU and many other universities and federal laboratories in the United States and around the world.

The station’s teaching mission includes formal undergraduate field courses, which have been offered at the MRS for over eight decades and have become an integral part of the academic experience of many college students. Several K–12 courses also use the MRS as a site to introduce students to field environmental science.

The MRS participates in educational experiences for the general public aimed at policy decisions that affect our environment. Through formal interactions with U.S. federal agencies such as the Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service, the MRS has provided expertise to help regulatory agencies make informed decisions about minimizing human impacts on mountain ecosystems. The MRS also provides summer seminars open to all on subjects of interest to both scientists and nonscientists. The MRS is a popular site for symposia and workshops aimed at decision-making and information sharing as well as CU departmental retreats and national scientific meetings.

The partially completed Science Lodge.

The final phase of construction on the new Science Lodge is to take place in spring and summer 2003. The building will provide housing, classroom and meeting-room space, and dining facilities for students and researchers during the winter, when most of the station is shut down, as well as during the summer, when the facility is crowded or groups want to have a contained space. The high-efficiency radiant floor heating in combination with advanced passive solar energy collection, using a trombe wall, will result in a comfortable winterized building when completed.

The CU Alpine Observatory, dedicated in July 2000, continues to receive improvements. The facility houses an optical telescope with a 12.5-inch mirror purchased with NASA funds by CU Boulder Senior Research Associate Alan Kiplinger for solar studies. The telescope has the capacity to find the location of 65,000 celestial objects. We hope to establish regular educational programs during the summer, utilizing the dark night skies as well as daytime viewing of the sun using special optical filters. A recently obtained Halpha filter will improve solar astronomy and provide a unique educational tool for many courses.

The Tundra Laboratory facilitates year round studies high on the Ridge
at 11,600 feet (3538 m). The lab has AC line power, solar power, fiber optic data line, and the TundraCam mast.

The TundraCam and Niwot Ridge climate stations continue to be popular sites for web browsers. These sites can be accessed via the recently renovated MRS home page http://www.colorado.edu/mrs/.

Several of the small student cabins received new roofs and new wood stoves in 2002. Ongoing structural renovations have significantly improved the comfort of the cabins at the station. CU Facilities Management completed a “green” sewage treatment facility that will not endanger one of the last remaining populations of greenback cutthroat trout in nearby Como Creek. Work was initiated in the fall of 2000 and completed before the summer 2002 season. The new facility operates year-round and will facilitate use of Science Lodge during the winter.

MRS Staff

A group of Mountain Research Station staff.

Director: William D. Bowman
Associate Director: Diane McKnight
Station Manager: Steven Seibold
Facilities Management: Mark O’Keefe
Course Coordinator: Julia Larson
Climatologist: Mark Losleben
LTER technician: Sandy Moore
Kiowa Laboratory Manager: Christine Seibold

See also: