The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center was recently designated a field station by The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Natural Sciences. The Wildflower Center joins the Brackenridge Field Laboratory and Stengl Lost Pines Biological Station as part of the Biodiversity Center’s growing field station network.

The field station designation allows the Wildflower Center to deepen its ties with university ecologists.

“The Wildflower Center has a long history of supporting impactful research,” said Lee Clippard, interim executive director. “The field station designation recognizes those contributions and expands opportunities for the Center to serve university students and faculty. It also promises to broaden the reach of our science and conservation programs to benefit the people and landscapes of Texas.”

Shalene Jha, an associate professor of integrative biology, will serve as the university’s liaison to the Wildflower Center as its inaugural Academic Director of Research.

“Field stations like this will help us to gain scientific insights into the state of ecological health in critical areas across Texas now, as well as to develop strategies, as habitats change, for better land management, ecological restoration, water and ecosystem preservation, invasive species management, and resilience in the future,” said David Hillis, professor of integrative biology and director of the Biodiversity Center.

The Wildflower Center’s field station designation offers scientists and students opportunities for research and learning about a mixed oak-juniper savanna along the Balcones Escarpment with intermittent drainages and a network of cave and karst features.