About

The Power of Place

What if there was a place that had the power to affect every other place on Earth?

High in the Colorado Rockies, there is an unassuming but extraordinary place that is quietly transforming field science as we know it. For decades, scientists the world over have converged here to study the species who call its diverse habitats home. It’s a place that hosts one of the longest continuously studied ecosystems in the world. A place whose ecosystem can be a model for understanding life across the planet. A place that inspires not just discovery but collaboration. A place that will make vital insights about life understandable to everyday humans. A place with the power, and the vision, to change the world.

How did we get here?

Founded on the remains of an abandoned mining town, RMBL was established in the early 20th century by scientists who recognized that its unusual variety of elevations and habitats could yield priceless scientific knowledge. Over the next nine decades, RMBL became the site of one of the largest annual migrations of field biologists. Offering living quarters, research laboratories, and protected field sites, RMBL has become a vital resource for discovering nature’s fundamental environmental processes. Some of the world’s most respected scientists return to RMBL year after year, conducting long-term field studies and continuing the work of generations of impassioned researchers and students.

What if we could transform field science?

Our vision is to create a model ecosystem to spawn scientific breakthroughs in our knowledge of the natural world – notably the processes that affect our food, water, air, and health.

community

RMBL attracts the world’s leading field scientists. As our model ecosystem approach takes root, it will create novel research opportunities and stimulate collaboration. Which will transform field science.

technology

Combining today’s advanced sensing technology with over nine decades of accumulated research, RMBL will offer scientists a data-rich environment that is sharable, searchable, and grounded in one of the most understood ecosystems on Earth.

With RMBL’s unique depth of research, commitment to technology, and dedicated scientific community, this is the ideal place to launch the next generation of field science.

Our strategy for transformation

RMBL will be the first field station to develop a model ecosystem for the Earth’s environmental processes, using our foundation of acquired knowledge to provide a template for understanding ecosystems around the world.
RMBL will continue to attract top scientists and build a second campus in Mt. Crested Butte, including housing, laboratory space, and a visitor center offering educational programs.
RMBL will maintain the integrity of our Gothic campus and update facilities to enable more collaboration, long-term research, and undergraduate training.
RMBL will build a data-rich, interactive environment to promote synthesis, idea sharing, and novel research opportunities, giving scientists access to our long-term data sets.
RMBL will translate the science done here for the public’s understanding and benefit. Environmental issues touch the lives of all humans and threaten the Earth’s ecosystems. We’re committed to modeling how field stations around the world can accelerate discovery.

This is earth changing.

The more we understand our world, the sooner we can protect it.

What can happen at RMBL will resound around the Earth. Merging 90 years of existing ecosystem studies with new data from advanced sensors will help scientists learn more about global ecosystems than ever before. Collaboration among the top scientists in their fields will speed the pace of discovery. And vital insights about our changing planet will help people and policymakers determine the way forward. RMBL’s place in science will be far bigger than a field station in the mountains. It will be the epicenter of how we understand the world.

To discover more about RMBL, contact Jeni Blacklock, PhD, Executive Director, 970.349.6669 [email protected] | PO Box 519 | Crested Butte, Colorado 81224 | 970.349.7231