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| Wilson Welcomes Construction Start for UNM`s Sevilleta Research and Education Center |
July 06, 2005 |
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| Wilson Worked for $3 Million in Federal Funding for the Center
Albuquerque, NM – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today hailed the start of construction at the new $6.6 million Sevilleta Research and Education Center. She worked for $3 million in federal funding, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last summer and signed in to law in December, for the major ecological research project in New Mexico’s desert. The Sevilleta Center is located about 50 miles south of Albuquerque, in and around the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge.
“It’s good to see work start at the Sevilleta Research and Education Center, and it will be great for UNM and New Mexico. UNM biologists and others do amazing work at the Sevilleta Refuge. Trying to understand our climate and our ecology is something we do at the most basic level, when we turn the nightly news on to watch the weather,” says Rep. Wilson. “This project focuses on learning more about what drives our long-term climate. I’m proud to support this research and the work that UNM researchers do in this great outdoor laboratory.”
The Refuge, which is managed by the US Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, and its surroundings, is positioned at the intersection of several major biotic zones: Chihuahuan Desert grassland and shrubland to the south, Great Plains grassland to the north, Piñon-Juniper woodland in the upper elevations of the neighboring mountains, Colorado Plateau shrub-steppe to the west, and riparian vegetation along the middle Rio Grande Valley.
The U.S. House approved the $3 million investment in the Interior Appropriations bill, and the final amount was included in the consolidated appropriations legislation signed by the President last December.
The Sevilleta Research and Education Center will complement the current Sevilleta Field Research Station, which is in need of a facility for training and to house research equipment and high-speed computer connections.
Once available, the Center will streamline integrated research efforts of the New Mexico Consortium, benefiting UNM, NMSU, NM Tech, Sandia National Labs and Los Alamos National Lab. Set in a National Wildlife Refuge, the facility will be used by scientists and educators from New Mexico and the southwest.
“The Sevilleta Research and Education Center builds on New Mexico’s strengths by promoting research and sharing knowledge among the universities and national laboratories,” Wilson said. “I’m pleased that we’re making this investment. I believe it will yield benefits in preserving our environment and natural resources.”
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