Both
faculty members and students were honored and grateful to have Mr.
Robert Pace visit the Virginia Forest on 8 October 1999. This was the
date when the Virginia Forest became officially open for students and
faculty members to do research and teaching. During this occasion, Mr.
Pace shared details concerning the reforestation and age of the
Virginia Forest.
As part of the Open House event held on 8 October 1999,
Professors Grant Goodell and Bruce Hayden came to visit the Virginia
Forest
to develop long-term plans on environmental researrch. Professor Hayden
now plans to include the Virginia Forest as one of the research sites
for
the future National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON). In
the
next 2-3 years, it is expected that the National Science Foundation
will
fund the first NEON programs.
No
matter the season of the year, the Virginia Forest is a beautiful site
to visit. This picture shows Professor Russ Monson, University of
Colorado, enjoying the magnificent view of the fall colors during 1999.
During the latter part of summer
2000, Deputy Director of the Air Resources Laboratory at NOAA Rick Artz
paid a visit to the Virginia Forest. The view on the background shows
the Blue Ridge mountains.
Severeal
research and construction projects have been completed at the Virginia
Forest. Professor Mike Garstang has always shared ideas and provided
explicit input to complete such projects. Here he is inspecting
the tracks for the radiation trolley which was initially design by
Matthew Sacks (an undergradaute Environmental Sciences student) and
built by Gerald Williams, the Department's machinist. The trolley
is being used by Erin Potter (an undergraduate
student from UVa) to investigate the disposition of irradiance inside
the
forest canopy.
