Since
the chartering of the Idaho National Environmental
Research Park in 1975, more than 80 graduate
students have conducted their thesis or dissertation
research on the Idaho Research Park. This research
has covered a broad range of topics and issues from
studies on the basic ecology of native sagebrush
steppe organisms to the potential natural pathways
of radiological materials through the environment,
and even to highly applied research on the design of
landfill covers that prevent water from reaching
buried waste. The research topics have included
native plants and wildlife as well as attempts to
understand and control non-native, invasive species.
The Idaho Research Park provides a coordinating
structure for ecological research and information
exchange at the INL Site. The Idaho Research Park
facilitates ecological research on the INL Site by
attracting new researchers, providing background
data to support new research project development,
and providing logistical support for assisting
researcher access to the INL Site. The Idaho
Research Park provides infrastructure support to
ecological researchers through the Experimental
Field Station and museum reference collections. The
Idaho Research Park has developed a centralized
ecological database to provide an archive for
ecological data and to facilitate retrieval of data
to support new research projects and land management
decisions. The Idaho Research Park also serves as a
point of synthesis that integrates results from many
research projects and disciplines and provides
analysis of ecosystem-level responses. The Idaho
Research Park works to foster cooperation and
research integration by encouraging researchers
using the INL Site to collaborate, develop
interdisciplinary teams to address more complex
problems, and encourage data sharing, and by
leveraging funding across projects to provide more
efficient use of resources. The Idaho Research Park
also provides interpretation of research results to
land and facility managers to support the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process natural
resources management, radionuclide pathway analysis,
and ecological risk assessment.
The Idaho Research Park maintains several regionally
and nationally important long-term ecological data
sets. The Idaho Research Park is home to one of the
largest data sets on sagebrush steppe vegetation
anywhere. In 1950, 100 vegetation plots were
established on the INL and were originally designed
to look for the potential effects of nuclear energy
research on native vegetation. Since then the plots
have been surveyed about every 5 to 7 years.
Although no effects of DOE operations have been
detected in these plots, the vast amount of data
collected provide a detailed chronicle of vegetation
change as the area recovered from the drought of the
1930s and the overgrazing that took place prior to
that time. This data set is now being used by
researchers at the Idaho Research Park and from
across the US to understand those natural recovery
processes, to test new theoretical models of
vegetation change in general and in the future will
serve as a base from which to monitor for potential
effects of climate change. Two sage-grouse lek
survey routes are monitored in conjunction with the
Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDF&G) and used
by IDF&G in their statewide program to track the
population status of sage-grouse. The Idaho Research
Park also participates in the North American
Breeding Bird Survey organized by the US Geological
Survey. Each year 13 permanent breeding bird survey
routes are monitored on the INL. Five of these
routes are in remote areas of the INL site and are
report to USGS. The remaining eight routes are
adjacent to INL facilities and are designed to
monitor the potential effects of facility activities
on nearby bird populations. There are numerous other
data sets available as well.
Since 2001, the Idaho Research Park has hosted 39
studies involving 22 graduate students, 35
university faculty and 25 DOE-ID contractor
scientists. So far nine graduate students have
completed theses. Funding for these projects has
come from 30 different agencies or organizations.
There are currently 14 major ecological research
projects taking place on the Idaho Research Park.
The researchers are from Idaho State University,
University of Idaho, Boise State University,
University of Nevada Reno, Montana State University,
Texas A&M University, New Mexico State University,
Colorado State University, the Wildlife Conservation
Society, and the INL Environmental Surveillance,
Education and Research Program (ESER). In addition
the ESER program has formal teaming agreements with
Idaho State University and the Great Basin and Rocky
Mountain Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Units that
include more than 20 universities.
The current research efforts on the Idaho Research
Park include 11 graduate students and involve 20
university faculty and 9 contractor scientists. The
Idaho Research Park also provides opportunities for
undergraduates to gain valuable experience doing
field research along side graduate students,
research faculty and contractor scientists. Each of
the 14 research projects noted above includes at
least one undergraduate technician and most have two
or more. The ESER program also has six undergraduate
technicians this summer participating in field
research on the Idaho Research Park.
Some of these projects are funded by DOE-ID through
the ESER program, but most are funded by other
agencies and organizations. Those other funding
sources include US Department of the Interior, US
Department of Defense, US Department of Agriculture,
National Science Foundation, Idaho Department of
Fish and Game, Idaho State University, University of
Idaho, Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station,
American Museum of Natural History, Inland Northwest
Research Alliance, and the National Center for
Airborne Laser Mapping.
The DOE-ID funded research primarily, and much of
the research funded by other agencies, addresses
issues necessary for conservation planning on the
INL Site. These issues include preparations for
potential Endangered Species Act listings,
understanding wildland fire effects, minimizing
invasive species impacts, long-term trends in plant
community composition, sagebrush health and
potential effects of climate change. All of the
knowledge gained through research conducted on the
Idaho Research Park (regardless of the funding
source) is available to the DOE for use in making
decisions about how energy development and use may
impact the environment. Much of this knowledge could
be used to better understand the potential for
impacts to sagebrush steppe from energy development
(natural gas, wind, solar, etc.) and development of
transmission line corridors.
The ESER program also provides public outreach
opportunities that showcase Idaho Research Park
activities. These include classroom demonstration
and instruction to over 10,000 school children in
eastern Idaho each year, sponsoring and featuring
NEPR scientists and others through the "Ask a
Scientist" program in support of Newspapers in
Education and the Museum of Idaho in their "Meet a
Scientist" program, and hiring summer high-school
interns for the War on Weeds program at the Idaho
Research Park and in support of surrounding county
noxious weed control programs.
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