LANGMUIR LABORATORY
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE PLAN

May 1, 2002 - April 30, 2003

CIBOLA NATIONAL FOREST
MAGDALENA RANGER DISTRICT

Dennis R. Aldridge, District Ranger, Approved 06/14/02
W. P. Winn, Chairman, Langmuir Laboratory, Approved 06/12/02

USFS sign on Forest Road 235 to Langmuir Lab

PLAN OBJECTIVES

The purpose of this annual plan is to provide close on-the-ground coordination and management of the Langmuir Research Site as required in the Special Use Authorization, dated March 12, 1992, Clause 23.

MUTUAL AUTHORITIES

The Magdalena District Ranger or the designated Acting Magdalena District Ranger is authorized to help prepare and approve the Annual Operation and Maintenance Plan or amendment to the Plan.

The President of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology or the Chairman of Langmuir Laboratory is authorized to help prepare and approve the Annual Operation and Maintenance Plan or amendments to the Plan.

An annual meeting of both parties will be scheduled by the District Ranger at the convenience of both parties to provide the coordination needed to prepare the Plan.

The Plan will be prepared by Langmuir Laboratory and approved by all parties prior to the field season.

Amendments that are within the scope of the Operation and Maintenance Plan may be submitted at any time for review and approval of the other party. The maximum response time for amendments by either party is 7 days; exceptions may be made if additional information is needed.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPERIMENTS

Preparations for summer experiments will begin in late May or early June. No people are expected to be in residence at Langmuir Laboratory (staying overnight) during the 2002 summer research season. The active season will end around August 22, 2002. Laboratory maintenance and winterizing will continue into October and perhaps November, depending on weather.

Trees and other fuel next to buildings are concerns which will be addressed in cooperation with the District Ranger.

The main research activities will include the following:

  1. An array of lightning rods will be installed near South Baldy Peak and at other locations around Langmuir Laboratory to study the zone of protection around the rods. Measurements of lightning currents near South Baldy Peak will be conducted by personnel from New Mexico Tech.
  2. Seismic activity will be monitored with an instrument located just south of the Main Langmuir Building.
  3. The Long-Term Ecological Research Project will study ground-dwelling arthropods, tree demography, and rodent populations.
  4. Instruments on two poles in the vicinity of the New Mexico Tech Remote Observatory will be used to characterize turbulence and its effect on telescope observations. One pole will be 30 feet high and the other 45 feet high.
  5. A 14" diameter telescope on a tripod will be operated from the Observatory.
  6. Chemists at New Mexico Tech will measure background levels of ozone, NOx, hydrocarbons and carbonyl compounds in the atmosphere, and similar compounds emitted from pine and fir trees and will collect weather data from a trailer at Microphone Hill.
  7. Small rockets with trailing wires will be launched to trigger lightning in late July or in August after the forest becomes wet.
  8. Lightning paths inside thunderclouds will be mapped using a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA).

PERMANENT RESEARCH FACILITIES

Permanent research facilities include the following:

  1. Main Langmuir Building, Langmuir Annex, and A-Frame Dormitory
  2. Socorro Electric Co-Op power line to the main buildings, West Knoll, Balloon Hangar, and the Remote Observatory
  3. Water feed from Sawmill Canyon to the Main Langmuir Building
  4. Two 150-kW diesel generators in quonset bunkers
  5. Storage yard, including trailers
  6. Supernova telescope facilities
  7. Instrument trailer at Microphone Hill
  8. Power and signal lines from the main buildings to West Knoll, Balloon Hangar, Remote Observatory, and the Kivas
  9. Instrument trailer at West Knoll
  10. Rocket storage container, 7 by 2 by 2 feet. This box is bullet proof and weighs about 3000 lbs. It is located near West Knoll.
  11. Rocket Launching Pad near West Knoll (4 by 4 foot concrete pad with three bolt studs to anchor launcher)
  12. Balloon Hangar and associated trailers
  13. Tracking radiosonde receiver near the Balloon Hangar
  14. New Mexico Tech Remote Observatory (formerly Joint Observatory for Cometary Research)
  15. Rocket Launching and Instrument Platform north of Remote Observatory
  16. Instrument Tower north of Remote Observatory
  17. Diesel Generator for Kivas in a small metal building. This generator and its small building will be moved to a flat area above the other generators near the main buildings.
  18. Kiva I and Kiva II---underground metal rooms for the study of electromagnetic radiation from lightning and for triggering lightning
  19. Areas designated for the long-term study of insect, rodent, and plant populations and for the study of biomass production
  20. Miscellaneous instruments (rain gauges, electric field meters, anemometers, etc.)
  21. Radar trailer to be located north of the Remote Observatory
  22. Other facilities not in the National Forest

NEW FACILITIES

Planning for the Magdalena Ridge Observatory, a major optical astronomy observatory, will continue.

A back-up gate will be installed about 200 meters before the end of the road to the main laboratory buildings to provide security for those buildings during the construction of the Magdalena Ridge Observatory when the Main Gate is likely to be open more often.

In addition, we are planning to build a second story onto part of the existing Main Building for atmospheric research. Construction will begin after plans, approvals, and funding are obtained.

ANTICIPATED TEMPORARY STRUCTURES

  1. Lightning rods near South Baldy Peak and at other locations around Langmuir Laboratory.
  2. Two guyed poles will be installed near the Remote Observatory to study turbulence. The towers will be 30 and 45 feet high. A small building (7 by 7 by 8 feet) will remain near the southeast corner of the Observatory to house instruments to record turbulence.
  3. Small stakes will be put in the ground to show where MRO telescopes will be.
  4. The dome and hut near the road to West Knoll (described in letter of 15 January 2002) will continue to be used through April 30, 2003, and perhaps into the next operational period.
  5. [Amendment #1, dated 09/23/02:] Four seismographs will be installed and operated at the proposed MRO site. The seismographs will incude excavating a hole with a rubber tired back hoe, approximately 2 feet in diameter and 3 to 5 feet deep, large enough to bury a 55-gallon drum, for each of the four seismographs. Installation will also involve putting a 12-inch diameter concrete pier that is approximately 1 foot long, below the bottom of each drum to set the instrumentation on inside of the drum. Solar panels will be located at each drum site to provide power for each of the four seismographs and a radio antenna for data collection. The drums will be covered and sealed to prevent water damage to the instruments and recording devices. Data will be accessed bi-monthly from the instruments. This does not allow for any new road development or modification of existing roads to access the instrumentation nor for the disturbance of any other ground outside of what has been approved and cleared during the field review of September 18, 2002, by the district archaeologist. When the experiment is completed, New mexico Tech will remove all the instrumentation, fill in the holes and return the ground to a level of reclamation that is acceptable to the District Ranger.

SITE PLANS

The maps containing four sheets titled ``Topographic Orthophoto of Langmuir Laboratory,'' dated 6/87, and related specifications prepared by Langmuir Laboratory, are attached to and hereby made a part of the Operation and Maintenance Plan.

MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE AND STANDARDS

Maintenance will be scheduled when it is required and it will comply with the standards of New Mexico Tech and the USFS when applicable.

Much of the downed cable across Sawmill Canyon has been removed; several more pieces will be removed in September or October 2002.

SAFETY PROCEDURES

Langmuir Laboratory will adhere to Safety Procedures established by New Mexico Tech. The Procedures include the following:

  1. Storing, transporting and launching of rockets will conform to regulations of the Department of Defense and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
  2. Restricted Area R5113 and the Tech and Withington Air Traffic Control Assigned Airspaces (ATCAAs) will be operated in accordance with a Letter of Agreement between New Mexico Tech and the Federal Aviation Administration, Albuquerque Center.
  3. Before anticipated rocket firings, New Mexico Tech will consult with the District Ranger, or his representative, to determine fire danger rating. If fire danger is high or extreme, New Mexico Tech will discuss risk of fire with the District Ranger and his staff before deciding to launch missiles. The decision to launch rockets lies with New Mexico Tech, which is responsible for prevention and suppression of fires resulting from its activities, in accordance with special use permit clause 28.

When the Cibola Forest is closed to entry, such as during periods of extreme fire danger, the Laboratory will arrange with the District Ranger for access to the area. Laboratory personnel will be informed of the forest restrictions and the procedures to be followed. Typical arrangementes will include the following:

  1. Langmuir Laboratory will limit activities in the forest to those that are essential.
  2. Laboratory personnel in the forest will be limited to those people who are essential to projects. A list of names of those people will be provided to the District Ranger. The list may be updated from time to time.
  3. The Langmuir Laboratory Office will monitor which Laboratory personnel are in the forest at all times. Personnel will notify the Office before entering the forest, and upon leaving, so that there is a record of who is in the forest at all times. Whenever possible, entry will be limited to weekdays. On weekends or during non-office hours, notice of entry and exit will be left as a message on the Laboratory Office telephone (575-835-5423) or with the Laboratory Chairman (W. P. Winn, 575-835-1174).
  4. Some years there may be Laboratory personnel who need to be in residence in the Main Laboratory Building. Special arrangements will be coordinated with the District Ranger if residency is requested, and necessary communication and evacuation plans will be established.
  5. Magdalena Ridge Observatory projects and personnel are not included in these procedures, and they will make their own arrangements with the Forest Service for entry when the forest is closed.

Additional safety procedures are established when 2.75-inch rockets will be launched (not planned for 2002):

  1. The road to West Knoll will be blocked to vehicle traffic whenever rockets are loaded in preparation for thunderstorm investigations or test firings.
  2. The rocket landing area is the same one that we have used for many years in the past; during 1994 we used only that part of it south of the latitude of the Main Laboratory Building.
  3. A description of the area, and how and when it will be used will be published by New Mexico Tech in newspapers of local distribution (notice attached).
  4. Warning signs (wording and map attached) will be posted at the following locations if 2.75 inch diameter folding fin aircraft rockets will be flown (not planned for 2002):
  5. Before each anticipated firing, New Mexico Tech will be reasonably secure in the fact that people are not within the impact area. Determination will also be made through the District Ranger that fire crews or other Forest personnel are not within the impact area.
  6. All grazing and special use permittees affected by the impact areas will be notified in writing by new Mexico Tech of the coming summer program. Copies of the notification letters will be furnished to the District Ranger. The Ranger will furnish a list of permittees involved.
  7. Rocket landing areas will be observed for a full 48-hour period after each launch to determine if fires may have been started by rockets.
  8. Property liability insurance will be carried by New Mexico Tech to adequately cover the hazards of the operation.

PUBLIC ACCESS AND VEHICLE RESTRICTIONS

When New Mexico Tech employees are in residence at the Laboratory, the public will be allowed access to the first floor of the Main Laboratory Building, which houses the kitchen and dining areas, bathrooms, visitor center, and main data collecting area. The public may also be guided into other areas by a Volunteer Host or by employees of New Mexico Tech.

The Forest Service will provide signs for the Langmuir Research Site boundary at major road and trail routes.

Off-road vehicle use is prohibited within the Langmuir Research Site, except on roads.

Special Order #03-67 closes the Principal Research Area as shown on map dated October 22, 1990, JRL, to ultra-light aircraft and hang-gliders except by permit of the Forest Supervisor.

EROSION CONTROL

Road damage from erosion will be repaired as needed.

OFF-SEASON CLOSURE PROCEDURES

The main gate will be closed whenever there are too few employees to keep the main buildings under surveillance. We anticipate that the main gate will be open only on an irregular basis in July and August 2002.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Information will be available at the Main Laboratory Building.

Last updated 31 July 2002 by kieft@nmt.edu.