The overall program at the Jornada is based on integration of our research objectives into a broad set of collaborative research agreements with numerous institutions, agencies and non-profit organizations devoted to application of information and technologies resulting from our research to natural resource management. These partnerships include US government agencies with responsibilities for managing over 400 m ac (160 million ha) of public rangelands (both the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service), or providing technical support for hundreds of millions of ac of private rangelands across the US (the Natural Resource Conservation Service). These cooperative agreements also include groups interested in conservation of biodiversity (the Nature Conservancy and the Malpai Borderlands Group) and proper land management practices for degraded regions on other continents (the Agricultural University of Inner Mongolia and the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina). The Jornada has over 20 active agreements with many different organizations that result in research positively affecting both national policies and management of landscapes throughout the western US and on other continents.
New Mexico State University is the main cooperating institution with the Jornada. NMSU is one of the nation’s largest Hispanic serving institutions, and the Jornada typically supports 12-20 NMSU students either through undergraduate research experience programs or graduate research assistantships. Of additional importance are the numerous, long-term collaborations with research faculty at NMSU that provide synergistic and complimentary expertise to our collective scientific efforts.
The national partnership most central to our program has been as a site within the NSF LTER Network. As one of the original cohort of 6 sites within this network, the Jornada has participated in the LTER since 1982. A proposal to NSF for a 6-year renewal for our participation in this program will be submitted in February 2012. The PI for this program is Dr. Deb Peters, an ARS scientist within our Unit.
The Jornada is a member institution and relocatable site within the Southwest Domain of the newly-formed NEON (https://www.neonscience.org). The three NEON sites within this domain are slated for construction in 2012.
The Jornada is also a member/participant in the following national/global networks:
- one of the original Man and Biosphere Reserves (established in 1976) (www.unesco.org/mabdb/br/brdir/directory/biores.asp?mode=all&code=USA+14)
- USDA UV-B Network (since 1994): https://uvb.nrel.colostate.edu/UVB/uvb_network.jsf
- an institutional member site of the Association of Ecosystem Research Centers (since 2004): (https://www.ecosystemresearch.org/)
- NOAA Climate Reference Network (since 2007): https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/isis/station.htm;jsessionid=465FBDDC51504971D9B1A57C68D03874.lwf3?stationid=1307
- NRCS Soil Climate Analysis Network (since 2009): https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nwcc/site?sitenum=2168&state=nm
