http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/science/22lab.html
Where Research and Tourism Collide
By MICHELLE NIJHUIS
Published: July 22, 2008
GOTHIC, Colo. When Michael Soulé researched
butterflies in this mountain valley in the early
1960s, the nearby town of
<http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/north-america/united-states/colorado/crested-butte/overview.html?inline=nyt-geo>Crested
Butte was little more than a busted coal-mining
settlement. You couldnt even buy a mug or a
T-shirt, said Dr. Soulé, now a conservation biologist.
Crested Butte, reborn as a
<http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/skiing/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>skiing
and
mountain-<http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/biking/overview.html?inline=nyt-classifier>biking
mecca, today has rows of boutique shops and easy
mountain access. At the Rocky Mountain Biological
Laboratory, where Dr. Soulé and generations of
other researchers have studied remote alpine
habitats, growth is changing both the landscape
and the data they collect. The lab, like many
other long-running ecological research sites, is
trying to decide whether to study such changes or fight them.
Founded in 1928 on the site of an abandoned
silver-mining town, the independent lab attracts
students and scientists from around the world.
Working beside a 12,625-foot peak reminiscent of
a Gothic cathedral, researchers have gathered
decades of data on stream insects, salamanders,
marmots and the flowering schedules of alpine plants.
The whole lab works in one way or another on
essentially long-term experiments, said Paul
Ehrlich of
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/s/stanford_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org>Stanford
University, who has studied butterfly populations
in and around the laboratory since 1960. Global
warming has sharpened scientific interest in
these unusually long data sets, which reveal
climate-induced changes that cannot be seen in shorter studies.
As tourism continues in Crested Butte, visitors
pour into the steep-sided valley that the lab
calls home. The narrow dirt road between the ski
area and the laboratory grounds leads to
mountain-biking trails and camping spots, and is
often clogged with cars, bicycles and off-road vehicles.
Etc.
