With The Nature Conservancy's Dugout Ranch at its core, the Canyonlands Research Center Study Area spans lands managed by the USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and Canyonlands National Park, giving scientists the opportunity to study wide gradients of elevation, ecology and land-use histories. The Center is also situated along the boundary of the Southwestern monsoon climate zone, making it particularly sensitive to climatic variation. The Center will provide new information on how temperature, rainfall and land uses combine to affect the health of natural resources on the Colorado Plateau. Bringing together a suite of private, agency and academic partners, the Center will generate land management strategies that address the region's most pressing issues, including water quality and quantity, invasive species, and land uses such as grazing and recreation. As threats to this region's resources intensify, the Center's outdoor laboratory will yield practical solutions that aid ranchers, communities, agencies and policy makers in their efforts to sustain the lands and waters of the Colorado Plateau.