Overview of facilities associated with the LUQ-LTER
EL VERDE FIELD STATION AND STREAM HOUSE
Field Station:
El Verde Field Station is located within EYNF and provides access to El Verde Research Area via research trails. Facilities include a primary complex with a parking area, office, and laboratory facilities, dormitory rooms with bunk beds, and a kitchen and dining area. A secondary complex includes two-bedroom apartments, a kitchen area, and additional parking. The station’s facilities are currently out of service due to the damage caused by Hurricane María in September 2017, as the electrical lines that supplied power were affected. A diesel generator is used when it is necessary to power the station, and wi-fi is intermittently available. We are currently working on a plan to restore the station to full operation.
Coordinates: 18.321279, -65.819605
Physical Address: Carretera 186, KM 19.5, Río Grande, PR 00745-9601
Stream House:
This is a two-story building located two miles north of the main station facilities and outside the boundaries of EYNF. The Stream House has relatively stable power/internet and has access to the Espiritu Santo River. Facilities available for visitor use include a second-floor unit with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchen; a limnology lab equipped with balances, drying ovens, and stirrer/hot plates; and a dry room on the first floor, where staff offices are located.
Coordinates: 18.341933, -65.824669
Physical Address: Carretera 186, KM 22.4, Río Grande, PR 00745-9601
RESERVATIONS:
To reserve station or Stream House facilities, whether for day or overnight use, visit the rates and fees and reservations webpages of EVFS. It is strongly recommended that you communicate with the facilities manager, Francisco Pérez (Francisco.perez17@upr.edu), for detailed information about the amenities included with your reservation. Visitors are expected to abide by the safety rules on the EVFS webpage.
At the SFRS, there are multipurpose buildings, a research laboratory, and a
dormitory. The analytical laboratory is equipped with drying ovens, freezers,
chemical hood, balance, micro-centrifuge, and a ball mill grinder, and is ideal for soil, vegetation, and mycology studies. In addition, a nursery and herbarium are available for research and education purposes. The dormitory is equipped with bunk beds, a full kitchen, a common area, and shared bathrooms, and it can host researchers, interns, volunteers, students, and professors. For more information, please contact Iana.GrullonPenkova@usda.gov.
EAST PEAK STATION
The Pico del Este (East Peak) facilities, also known as the PDE cloud forest station, were founded in 2004 and are operated by the University of Puerto Rico and the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The station is located in a montane cloud forest at an elevation of 1,050 m above sea level. The site is exposed to a wide variety of air masses of diverse origins year-round, which makes it an ideal site for atmospheric and climate change studies. Pico del Este is an hour drive from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, which makes it accessible for sensor maintenance, calibration, and troubleshooting. There are three hurricane-proof steel shipping containers in the station: (i) the Aerosol and Cloud Analysis System (ACAS), (ii) the aerosol observing system (twin of the system located at the Cape San Juan atmospheric observatory), and (3) the office/laboratory container. There is a variety of instrumentation available for atmospheric and hydrologic research at Pico del Este. See the Luquillo Critical Zone Observatory and USDA FS – Pico del Este webpages for more information about the site, and contact the Program Manager (juan.garcia5@upr.edu) for a list of the instruments available for research. Data collection at Pico del Este may require a separate permit from the Forest Service
(see Research Permission and Permits, below).
Research Areas
LUQ-LTER science is conducted in several distinct locations. El Verde Research Area (EVRA) is approximately 260 acres between Hwy 186 and the El Toro Wilderness Area. EVRA can be accessed from El Verde Field Station (EVFS), an important site for tropical forest science and ecology since the mid-20th century. Several long-term research plots and associated projects occur in the EVRA, including: Luquillo Forest Dynamics Plot (LFDP), Canopy Trimming Experiment (CTE), Long-Term Elevation Plots (LTEP) along the Sonadora River, the Stream Flow Reduction Experiment (StreamFRE), and the Luquillo Throughfall Exclusion Experiment (LUQ-TEE).
Locations of key research sites can be viewed on the LUQ-LTER GIS webpage (currently under maintenance). The Environmental Sciences Department of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus (UPR-RP), administers the station and the surrounding research area under a special use permit from the USDA Forest Service (USFS).
Other important LUQ-LTER research areas include the Sabana Field Research Station (SFRS), managed by the USDA Forest Service-International Institute of Tropical Forestry (IITF). SFRS is the headquarters for the TRACE Forest Warming Experiment and the Bisley Experimental Watersheds (BEW). Pico del Este (East Peak), located in the cloud forest at the top of the LEF, is an important site for the study of aerosols and atmospheric chemistry.
Research Permits
Our Program receives research requests and questions about permitting, Manager Juan García-Cancel (juan.garcia5@upr.edu), and is evaluated by the LUQ-LTER leadership.
Activities in EVRA must be consistent with conditions established under a Special Use Permit with the Forest Service. If the proposed activities exceed the permitted conditions and cannot be modified, applications will be referred to EYNF to request a separate permit. Any proposed research that will occur outside EVRA’s permit boundary but still within EYNF/LEF will need a separate permit from EYNF. Requests for permits should be communicated to Rosendo Ramos at: Rosendo.RamosSerrano@usda.gov.
For research activities occurring at SFRS or Bisley, please contact IITF staff: Iana.GrullonPenkova@usda.gov
Research involving the collection or transport of living plants or vertebrates must follow the Puerto Rico Commonwealth regulations, which require a specimen collection permit from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DRNA; for more information, contact Marylin Colón, mcolon@drna.pr.gov). Any research involving marking or manipulating vertebrates requires an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) from UPR or the researcher’s home institution.
Drones: Currently, there is a Flight Avoidance zone over the entire El Yunque National Forest, which is tied to the Endangered Species Act and El Toro Wilderness area. A special use permit from the Forest Service is required to fly a drone (or any other aircraft) for any recreational or scientific purposes. To get this permit, you must present a flight plan with coordinates, including potential dates and estimated time for flights. Also include drone type and pilot credentials and contact information, as applicable. This information can be compiled and emailed to Rosendo Ramos at: Rosendo.RamosSerrano@usda.gov. Permit requests should be submitted a minimum of 3 weeks before planned fly dates so the Forest Service can review and complete a formal consultation with USFWS.
Permit approval takes time, and applications should be submitted as early as possible. Advanced planning and frequent communication with the relevant agency is advised.