Colorado State University is closing its San Juan Basin Research Center in Hesperus - the old Fort Lewis site - in response to a cut in state funding and ongoing questions surrounding its research agreement with the state land board.

"We're now in the process of phasing out operations at the Hesperus site," said Lee Sommers, director of the CSU Agricultural Experiment Station in Fort Collins. The center will close for good June 30.

Sommers came to Durango on Thursday to tell the three full-time center employees their positions were being eliminated. Before they leave, center director Doug Zalesky, who lives at the site, and full-time research associates Clayton Shonk and Dan Selzer will oversee the transfer of equipment and cattle to CSU's Beef Cattle Improvement Center in Saratoga, Wyo. and the Eastern Colorado Research Center in Akron.

Zalesky, who gave a full site tour to three Herald journalists on Wednesday, said on Thursday the news came as a shock.