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1. Support research and academic use of university field sites and facilities.
2. Create a dynamic and collaborative model of natural areas administration and on-the-ground stewardship involving faculty, staff, and students engaged in coursework, research, and service.
3. Work with Campus Planning to ensure all monitoring and research on ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë lands is permitted and approved in a uniform and appropriate manner.
4. Liaise with ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë Real Estate to handle external requests for using these facilities and to secure easements or new agreements to enhance usability and accessibility. Create policies for the use of these facilities that external users need to follow.
5. Pursue funding opportunities and work to maintain long-term monitoring infrastructure that will provide a baseline for more in-depth short-term research projects led by faculty researchers.
6. Develop close collaborations with non-governmental, public agency, and business partners to improve opportunities for the use of these facilities and associated monitoring infrastructure.
7. Communicate the value of these facilities and provide guidance to faculty about how they can be leveraged to support their research or the courses they teach. Elevate opportunities to use these properties for research, education, and community engagement.
8. Pursue external funding opportunities to enhance the functionality of the core.

ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë’s Field Research / Instruction, & Land Stewardship (FRILS) Core supports ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë’s research sites through facility-based support. FRILS will establish new educational opportunities, facilitate collaborative networks, and inspire ecosystem restoration and stewardship of these ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë research sites. The aim is that the stewardship of these sites will spill over to our area communities and beyond.

FRILS streamlines the process for ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë researchers to use these land-based facilities to support their field research activities. FRILS acts as a liaison between the administrative departments that manage these remote facilities, researchers, ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë Facilities and Planning, ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë Real Estate, ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë Risk Management, and external partners.

ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë has a premier assemblage of field sites, totaling over 3,200 acres, spanning from top of Mount Mansfield to the depths of Lake Champlain. Collectively, FRILS facilities host an extensive diversity of natural community types critical to scholars and practitioners seeking to study ecological and human health. These properties have a great potential to better support ÈÕº«ÎÞÂë’s excellence in research, education, and community service.

FRILS supports the cataloging and maintenance of long-term monitoring infrastructure, from weather stations at different elevational gradients to forest monitoring stands that track the health of forest communities over time.