 |
| Wilson Announces $2.1 Million for Sevilleta Research and Education Center |
July 27, 2005 |
| |
| Federal Funds for New Mexico in Interior Appropriations Conference Report
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Heather Wilson today announced that the Interior Appropriations conference report includes $2.1 million in federal funding Wilson requested for the project.
Earlier this month, construction began at the new $6.6 million Sevilleta Research and Education Center, a 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.
“I’m pleased that this important project will receive this federal support, and it was great to see work start at the Sevilleta Research and Education Center,” Wilson said. “I’m proud to support the work 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 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.”
Congress also approved $3 million in federal funds for the Center last year, and that investment was signed into law in December.
- END - |
|
|
|