Colorado Plateau Research Station

The Colorado Plateau Research Station (CPRS) at Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, Arizona is a diverse scientific unit that works collaboratively with international, federal, state, tribal, non-profit, and local agencies on natural resources management and conservation. Current research areas include endangered and at-risk riparian species, communities, and habitats; predicting wildlife responses to climate change; venomous reptile ecology and management; and invasive species and native wildlife monitoring on public lands. Through the CPRS’s NAU Gartersnake Research Program, student interns and volunteers have an unique opportunity to assist with federal threatened gartersnake recovery.

The research station was originally established in 1989 as a National Park Service Cooperative Park Studies Unit at Northern Arizona University, located in Flagstaff, Arizona. CPRS was then merged into the United States Geological Survey in 1996, when the National Biological Service was incorporated into the USGS as the Biological Resources Division. In 1997 the CPRS became part of the USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, and in October 2002 the CPRS was aligned with the newly-created USGS Southwest Biological Science Center. Following a 2018 split between the federal (USGS) and NAU staff, close partnerships with the USGS continue. In 2020, the CPRS at NAU joined NAU’s Center for Adaptive Western Landscapes (CAWL).