CALMIT Research Facilities Field Sites
CALMIT Field Research Facility
The CALMIT Field Research Facility (CFRF) is located at the University of Nebraska Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center (ENREEC), approximately 35 miles northeast of Lincoln, near Mead, Nebraska.
ENREEC is a 9,000-acre experiment station, operated under the aegis of the Agricultural Research Division of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The field remote-sensing program is one of the major program areas under the aegis of CALMIT. An impressive array of facilities and equipment combine to provide faculty, staff, students, and visiting scientists with an unusual opportunity to conduct field-oriented investigations. The emphasis of the field activities is on close-range remote sensing, but data collected by means of many other related technologies can be linked to the spectral data.
Barta Brothers Ranch
The Barta Brothers Ranch is a University of Nebraska research site located in the Nebraska Sandhills. Current research focuses on plant and livestock response to grazing systems, as well as ecosystem structure and function in the Sandhills. The ranch covers approximately 6,000 acres and provides research, educational, and training opportunities to university researchers and students, as well as the general public.
Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory
The Gudmundsen Sandhills Laboratory is located in the Nebraska Sandhills in Grant, Hooker and Cherry counties. Research at the Laboratory has increased our understanding of the Sandhill's ecosystem by focusing on animal, range, soil, veterinary, economics, entomology, geology, hydrology, forestry and wildlife projects.
Nine-Mile Prairie
Nine Mile Prairie is a 230-acre contiguous segment of rare relict tallgrass prairie, and is one of the few natural, virgin prairies occuring in the United States. This nationally important outdoor laboratory for the study of biological processes in grasslands has been the subject of research efforts since the 1920s and is the longest-studied natural area in Nebraska. This rich ecosystem is home for more than 390 vascular plant species, 80 bird species, and several rare species, including the federally-threatened prairie white fringed orchid (Platanthera praeclara) and the rare regal fritillary butterfly (Speyeria idalia).
CALMIT maintains a solar and wind powered PhenoCam site at Nine-Mile Prairie. PhenoCam is an ecosystem phenology camera network with sites spanning the globe. The PhenoCam Network provides automated, continuous, near-surface remote sensing of vegetation canopy phenology. The imagery allows us to view vegetation phenology, such as bud break and senescence, in real time and identify trends.
