Site: Desert Research Experimental Station

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Site: Desert Research Experimental Station (DRES)
County, State: Millard county, Utah
Years of Occupation: 1933 - Present
Status of Site: Open
Classification: N/A?
Type: Gov’t research center
Remnants: Buildings, tennis court, research plots etc.
GPS Coordinate: 38.594998 113.749479
Date of Last Visit: Arpil, 2015

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This outdoor laboratory site was established in 1933. See more about the original mission in the text copied below from the official website.


From: http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/experimental-forests/desert-experimental-range/

The Desert Experimental Range is located mostly in Pine Valley, Millard County, Utah and is geographically and floristically representative of approximately 62,500 square miles (160,000 square kilometers) of salt-desert shrub and shrub-grass ecosystems found in the cold deserts of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateaus of western North America. It was established in 1933 when President Herbert Hoover set aside 87 square mile sections (225 square kilometers) for “an agricultural range experiment station.” The Desert Experimental Range quickly became a center for cold-desert rangeland research and a range ecology educational site of international significance. In 1976 it was designated a Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) under the Man and Biosphere (MAB) program. Currently it is one of a handful of Biosphere Reserves representative of cold-deserts worldwide and is unique in this respect in the Western Hemisphere.

Past research at the Desert Experimental Range focused on the impacts of livestock on successional processes in North American salt-desert plant communities; winter sheep management; desertification; rodent ecology; pronghorn antelope biology and management; cryptobiotic soil-crust ecology; and avian and mammalian population dynamics. In addition to continuation of existing long-term studies, current research explores the effects of invasive alien weeds and climate variability on salt-desert ecosystem stability and the effectiveness of shrub revegetation treatments on degraded landscapes
The headquarters complex of the Desert Experimental Range was constructed in 1934-35 by the Civilian Conservation Corps. (CCCs) and includes an office, three living quarters, support buildings, a tennis court and a well. These facilities have been maintained to support research and education activities at this remote location.

Further Reading:
http://www.fs.fed.us/rmrs/experimental-forests/desert-experimental-range/
http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_2982113

To get there: Drive ~48 miles west out of Milford and take a right through the big stone gate/entrance, continue north about 3 miles.
 
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