Although primarily supported by funds from the University of California's Office of Research, the White Mountain Research Station also relies on user fees, grant income, and private donations to meet our budgetary requirements. Owing to the slow California economy and other factors, our state operating funds have been cut in recent years by over 25% (FY 2005-06 figures), leaving us with a difficult shortfall in terms of staffing and operating funds. As a result, we rely on grants and donations to move ahead with our projects, even those with highest priority. Below are a few of our "priority" projects...

Priority Project. A New Era of High Altitude Research in North America: Year-round Operations at Barcroft Station There is a pressing need for a high-elevation winter field station in North America. Modern technology is now available to make safe, efficient winter operations possible even at remote, extreme-environment facilities such as those at Barcroft. WMRS is committed to transforming Barcroft to year-round operations, and has carried out extensive planning, including a trial winter season in 2003-04 and establishment of the White Mountain Energy Project in cooperation with the Advanced Power and Energy Program (APEP) at UC Irvine. See New Era project page for details. See "Barcroft needs list" for a list of gift items that would help move the project forward.	You can make a donation to the station at any time. Please make out a check payable to "UC Regents" and mail it to the address below. Please specify "for support of WMRS" on the check. If you wish to support a specific project or program, please contact WMRS staff so we can work out the details. Note that over 95% of any funds donated in this way go directly to WMRS programs. White Mountain Research Station 3000 E. Line St. Bishop CA 93514 All donations are tax deductible. Please include your return address and we will send you a letter thanking you for your donation. (see UCSD disclosure to donors page for more info)
Barcroft Station is located 2 miles above timberline on the east slopes of Mount Barcroft at 12, 450' (3800m) elevation. Winter access is via a 20-30 mile snowcat ride. (4-29-05)	This is a view from inside the Tucker "Terra lite" snowcat, which we use to transport people and supplies in winter conditions. This snowcat is designed to travel over snow. (12-9-04)

Priority Project: WMRS-GLORIA is part of an international effort to monitor changes in alpine vegetation on mountain peaks around the world (see WMRS-GLORIA web pages).

Each summer WMRS hosts 20-30 scientists and volunteers at the Crooked Creek Field Station for the annual "GLORIA field week" of monitoring and investigation. In 2009 and 2010 the research group will re-survey seven designated summits that were originally surveyed in 2004 and 05, looking for climate change effects. The research team also looks at a variety of other species and features such the ancient bristlecone pine forest, subalpine shrubs, and insect communities. This largely volunteer effort is in need of private support to feed and house the research team as well as pay for a one-month salary to the project manager. For example, $250 will pay for the room and board for one investigator for the field week, and $1000 will pay for one years' supply of electronic data loggers.

Future Project. Supporting Geoscience Education and Research in the Owens Valley Region, one of the Premier Venues for Field Geology in the World. Note: (this project is still in the formative stages and is presented here to stimulate interest). The region surrounding WMRS is one of the premier venues for field geology field in the world, and WMRS has hosted over 600 college-level classes, 8000 students and over 700 graduate student/faculty research projects. Classes and researchers come from all over the United States and Europe. The WMRS Owens Valley Lab (OVL) has been the institutional focus for much of this interest. The immediate need is to modernize and renovate infrastructure at OVL, particularly dormitory and classroom space, to relieve crowding and improve productivity for students, educators and researchers. (See Geoscience Education project for details)

Alan Glazner teaches his advanced field geology class about desert pavement. This class comes each year from the University of North Carolina. 25-30 geoscience classes stay at WMRS each year and explore the unequalled geology features of the region.	Summer 2004 student Corie Cann prepares to extract a core in dry lake bed in the Owens Valley. She was looking for ancient fish bones in the sediments.

Gift funds and other ways to support the station and its programs:

The "Adopt-a-log" program allows donors to help support research and education at the station by "adopting" one of the beautiful logs of the Crooked Creek buildings - donors' names are inscribed on the logs in commemoration. This fund is used to fund special projects at Crooked Creek.

The Nello Pace Fund was established to support research and education at the Barcroft Station. This fund is used to fund special projects at Barcroft.

Station needs list

• GLORIA project support (see above)
• Two HOBO weather stations (approx $1400 each) to serve as backups for the on-line stations at Crooked Creek and the Summit
• Webcams for Barcroft, the Observatory Dome, White Mountain Summit, and Crooked Creek
• Vehicles in good condition, esp 4wd vehicles and/or larger trucks that can tow trailers
• Rubber-tired tractor/loader in good-excellent condition
• Relatively new PC computers (less than three years old)
• see also the Barcroft needs list