Rocky Mountain Research Station facts for kids
The Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) is a special group that studies nature. It's part of the United States Forest Service, which helps take care of our country's forests and grasslands. The RMRS is one of the biggest research groups in the world that focuses on natural resources.
Their main office is in Fort Collins, Colorado. Over 400 people work there full-time, including about 100 research scientists. These scientists work in eight different areas to learn more about our environment.
The RMRS works hard to understand and protect our nation's forests and grasslands. They do important scientific research to make sure these natural places stay healthy and strong. They also help us use natural resources wisely. Their work is very important for dealing with big challenges like climate change, natural events like storms or fires, and how humans affect the environment.
Contents
Understanding Our Environment
One of the main things the RMRS studies is wildfires and how to make landscapes stronger against them. They create new tools and study fires in detail. This helps us predict, prevent, and manage wildfires better. Their goal is to create areas that can recover more easily after a fire.
The RMRS also studies Great Basin ecosystems. These are unique areas with special plants and animals. Scientists work to understand these places and find ways to bring back and keep important "ecosystem services." These services are things nature provides, like clean water or healthy soil, even when the environment is changing fast.
Climate and Ecosystems
The station also looks at how climate affects forests and grasslands. They study how past and present weather patterns, natural events like fires or floods, and human history have shaped these environments. This helps them understand the complex ways everything in nature is connected.
The RMRS also finds threats to healthy environments in grasslands, shrublands, and deserts. They work with many other research groups around the world. Together, they do advanced research on wildland fires. The Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program, run by the RMRS, does research that helps with fire management. This program helps us understand how fire, fuel (like dry plants), and smoke behave in nature.
What the Scientists Study
The Rocky Mountain Research Station has different programs where scientists focus on specific areas. Here are some of the main topics they study:
- Air, Water, and Aquatic Environments: They study how clean our air and water are, and how healthy rivers and lakes are.
- Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute: This group focuses on understanding and protecting wilderness areas.
- Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science: This program studies wildfires, what makes them burn, and how smoke affects the environment.
- Forests and Woodlands Ecosystems Research: They learn about how forests grow, stay healthy, and how they are affected by different things.
- Grassland, Shrubland, and Desert Ecosystem: This team studies the plants and animals in drier areas like grasslands and deserts.
- Human Dimensions: This group looks at how people interact with nature and how our actions affect the environment.
- Inventory, Monitoring, and Analysis Science: They collect information about natural resources and analyze it to understand changes.
- Wildlife and Terrestrial Ecosystems: This program studies animals and their habitats on land.
Where the Research Happens
The RMRS has many laboratories and special outdoor areas where they do their research. These places are located in different states across the western United States.
Research Laboratories
Scientists work in these labs to study samples, analyze data, and develop new tools:
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Albuquerque, NM
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Bozeman, MT
- Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT
- Aquatic Sciences Laboratory, Boise, ID
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Flagstaff, AZ
- Headquarters, Fort Collins, CO
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Logan, UT
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT
- Aldo Leopold Wilderness Research Institute, Missoula, MT
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Moscow, ID
- Ogden Service Center, Ogden, UT
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Ogden, UT
- Shrub Sciences Laboratory, Provo, UT
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Rapid City, SD
- Forestry Sciences Laboratory, University of Nevada, Reno NV
Outdoor Research Areas
The RMRS also has special outdoor areas called experimental forests and ranges. These are like outdoor classrooms where scientists can study nature over many years:
- Black Hills Experimental Forest
- Boise Basin Experimental Forest
- Coram Experimental Forest
- Deception Creek Experimental Forest
- Desert Experimental Range
- Fort Valley Experimental Forest
- Fraser Experimental Forest
- Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site (GLEES)
- Great Basin Experimental Range
- Long Valley Experimental Forest
- Manitou Experimental Forest
- Priest River Experimental Forest
- Sierra Ancha Experimental Forest
- Tenderfoot Creek Experimental Forest
