SUU Partners With Environmental Network

Published: November 03, 2005 | Author: Valerie Cheeseman, Director of Sponsored Research | Read Time: 2 minutes

Southern Utah University has been accepted to join the Colorado Plateau
Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CPCESU), a consortium of federal,
tribal and academic partners dedicated to providing research, technical
assistance and scholarly expertise to resource and environmental
managers.

As of now, the CPCESU partnership consists of five federal
agencies—that is, the: Biological Research Division of the U.S.
Geological Survey, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service,
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S.D.A--Forest Service, along with
approximately 20 universities and non-governmental organizations spread
over seven states in the western United States.

The entire national network includes 13 federal agencies and more than
120 partner institutions, all agreeing on the priority of initiating
and developing programs to protect, preserve and healthfully manage our
American lands and resources.

The CPCESU is a regional study group that strives to significantly
assist the nation’s environmental managers with natural and social
sciences issues on the Colorado Plateau and adjacent areas. Moreover,
it works to publicize the discoveries of research to potentially
interested educators, researchers and citizens. And still another
facet of its objective is to acquire monetary awards from the five
federal partners to help complete interdisciplinary projects addressing
the cultural, social and natural resources issues of the Colorado
Plateau.

The CPCESU invited SUU to be part of its consortium after Dr. Harold
Ornes, professor of biology and dean of the College of Science, made
application and presentations to the CPCESU review board regarding the
many resources and capabilities of SUU students and faculty who could
significantly help the CPCESU reach its goals.

“This development will make SUU a visible and important partner among
the best universities and organizations in the West,” Ornes states.
“Our students and faculty in almost every major will have opportunities
to work on high priority projects related to natural resource
management in the Colorado Plateau region.”

Since its establishment in 1999, the CPCESU has garnered more than 400
awards, or $26 million, to more than a dozen partner institutions for
projects like: air, water and soil quality monitoring programs;
aquatic, terrestrial and riparian ecosystem restoration; habitat
studies of threatened and endangered species; inventory and monitoring
of federal lands visitors' experiences; pinion pine-juniper treatment;
invasive species and plants studies; and large carnivore and otter
workshops.

--SUU—

Through its more than 100-year history, Southern Utah University has evolved from a teacher training school into its current role as a comprehensive, regional university to 6,000 students from across the globe. It serves the southern region of Utah and contiguous counties in surrounding states with undergraduate and graduate programs in six colleges. People of the region look to the University for outreach services, culture, economic and business development, higher learning, regional history, public affairs, major academic specialties, and significant entertainment and recreation. Accentuated by the notable, economic value of its services, SUU's hallmark is its quality staff, faculty and academics.

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