Clark Construction has been selected as Construction Manager for an experimental mesocosm facility at the Central Michigan University (CMU) Biological Station on Beaver Island. The project calls for renovation of a former boathouse and installation of 12 mesocosm tanks that will allow CMU faculty, students, and visiting investigators at the CMU Biological Station to conduct controlled and replicated ecological experiments on the ecosystems of Lake Michigan.
“We are looking forward to managing a project that will result in an expansion of important research being led by Central Michigan University,” said Robert LaLonde, Senior Project Manager for Clark Construction. “This project will enable at least ten faculty members from CMU, as well as researchers from other institutions, to conduct new research in freshwater biology and related disciplines.”
For more than 30 years Central Michigan University has operated a Biological Station (CMUBS) on Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan. Until recently the primary focus of research at CMUBS has been on the Island's diverse array of undisturbed terrestrial ecosystems, and the station has also supported an active summer undergraduate and graduate education program.
Construction preparations for the 2011 Beaver Island Mesocosm project are already underway. The project is scheduled to be complete by April 1, 2012.
Included among Clark Construction’s other projects for Central Michigan University is the recently completed $20 million expansion and renovation of the University Events Center and the Interior Renovations completed in Brooks Hall this past summer.
