By Tiffany Morgan, The Dominion Post
“This is just the start.”
Zach Fowler, WVU Core Arboretum director and clinical assistant professor in the department of biology, said the arboretum has yet to reach its full potential, with the second annual Nature Connection Series being the start of it all.
The WVU Core Arboretum will hold its second annual Nature Connection Series, starting on June 5. Each Tuesday at 6 p.m., there will be a new speaker and lecture. Each lecture will cover a different topic, but the main goal is to connect attendees with nature during the presentations.
Fowler said he looks forward to the series and that the main goal is for the public to learn from the researchers at each lecture while in a natural and rural setting. Fowler added that each speaker is a volunteer for the program.
“We’re really excited about the lineup we have this year,” Fowler said. “We get experts — these are people who study this or do talks on this kind of stuff for a living, so these are really professional, expert people that are here to share great knowledge and connect people with nature.”
According to Fowler, the average number in attendance for each lecture last summer was 18 people. Fowler looks forward to each lecture being “well attended,” with the area being able to seat up to 80 people.
“The part that I look forward to most about it is connecting people with nature,” Fowler said. “Our goal is really to get people out, to learn about nature while they’re in nature.”
Fowler realized there was one thing he did not see coming: “regulars.” He said that multiple people had showed up to most, if not all of the lectures, and he looks forward to that aspect with this year’s series.
Fowler added that not only do those in attendance learn from each lecture series, but the presenters do as well, with the main goal of connecting with nature in a scientific way.
“They seem to enjoy this and see the importance of it,” Fowler said. “The presenters value the experience as well as the public does.”
With Fowler doing a majority of the upkeep and work with the arboretum, he said it is “intense” and with the lecture series more specifically, it is a lot of setup with the system they carry down to the presentation area but it is worth the work.
“It’s a lot of work but it’s well worth it because of what we get to share with people,” Fowler said. “It’s the type of thing Morgantown needs — for there to be things like this for the general public to do is important to make it a good place to live.”
June schedule
- Tuesday, Chris Rota, WVU, Using citizen science to investigate urban wildlife in the arboretum
- June 12, Neal Peterson, pawpaw nursery owner, Pawpaws past and present
- June 19, Ieva Roznere, The Ohio State University, The secret life of freshwater mussels
- June 26, Bill Beatty, Bill Beatty Nature, Discovering life through birds
WVU Core Arboretum holds many free events, but accepts donations. For more information on the lecture series, go to https://arboretum.wvu.edu/nature-connection-series.
