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NATURAL HISTORY
Field Seminars and Retreats
Get outdoors and enjoy Pennsylvania’s natural world with a community of top-notch instructors, seasoned naturalists and curious people like yourself. Our adult field seminars take advantage of the beauty of each season and a few of the state’s extraordinary natural areas. Journey to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon and Pine Creek Valley where you’ll discover amazing scenery to be preserved on paper while using digital technology; learn first-hand about Pennsylvania’s very special flying mammals and what is threatening their existence; create your own artistic impression with watercolors while exploring forests and fields; cultivate your sense of place at home in your landscape; study nonflowering plants in remote wild places amongst the state’s most scenic waterfalls and explore the fungus among us. Spend anywhere from a day to several days with the Institute exploring a variety of natural history subjects.
Please join us in 2010 to deepen your connections with the land, people, and communities of this amazing place we call home.
2010 Seminars and Retreats:
Register today!
Wild Mushrooms: Natural History, Collecting, Preparing and Eating
Capturing Nature with Watercolors
Bat Ecology
Grasses, Sedges, Rushes
At Home in the Landscape: a Natural History of Plants and People
Ferns and Mosses
Landscape and Lens - Photographing the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
The Color of Water: Mixing Art and Science |
©Ron Beach
©Ron Beach
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Landscape and Lens - Photographing the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon
October 22-24
(FRI evening - SUN morning)
Pine Creek Valley , Lycoming and Tioga Counties
Scott Brown
The landscape of North Central Pennsylvania showcases the splendor of the Appalachians and its fall beauty. Beautiful natural surroundings abound
and provide photographic opportunities. Scott Brown, author of Pennsylvania Waterfalls and Pennsylvania Mountain Vistas, will guide all levels of photographic experience towards an end product of extraordinary visual satisfaction. Imagine returning home with a collection of stunning landscape photographs which can be shown as hanging portraits, shared e-mail images, and greeting cards. All camera formats are acceptable, but 35mm and digital formats are encouraged.
Tuition: $275 per person (double occupancy); includes instruction, two nights lodging, lunch on Saturday, and a minimum of 15 ACT
48 credit hours. |
© Scott Brown |
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At Home In The Landscape -
A Natural History of Plants and People
AUGUST 16, 2010 (MON)
9:30 am - 4 pm
Philadelphia
Lisa Schnell
Explore the diverse array of plants native to southeastern Pennsylvania during this day long seminar. While learning to recognize specifi c plants, we will also discuss their natural history
and human interactions with these fascinating organisms. By understanding the local flora,
participants will connect to the broader landscape, with the goal of feeling more at home ecologically. We will further consider the idea of home and what makes us native to a place
by reading examples of place-based literature and writing about our own experiences, ultimately deepening our connection to plants, the landscape, and each other.
Tuition: $50 per person; includes instruction, hand-outs, and 6 ACT 48 credit hours. Bring your own lunch. |
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Grasses, Sedges and Rushes
AUGUST 12, 13 and 14, 2009 (WED – FRI)
Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, Huntingdon County
Sarah Miller
Designed with consultants, natural resource professionals, and college students in mind, join Sarah Miller, an experienced botanist, to learn skills necessary to identify these challenging plant species using diagnostic characters and botanical keys. Classroom activities will highlight basic morphology, the characteristics of common genera, and identification of plant specimens using both simple and complex keys. Slides, overheads, handouts, and herbarium and freshly collected fi eld specimens will be used to illustrate plant characters. In the field, participants will have the opportunity to visit diff erent wetland types in the area to practice their plant identifi cation skills. There will be an evening lab session on Wednesday
for those interested.
Tuition: $225 per person; includes lunch on Wed and Thu, instruction, identifi cation keys and handouts, and 12 ACT 48 credit hours. You must arrange for lodging on your own. Stone Valley Recreation Area has cabins and is nearby. |
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Ferns and Mosses
SEPTEMBER 11, 2010 (SAT)
Ricketts Glen State Park, Luzerne County
Susan Munch, Ph.D.
The forests of Pennsylvania provide ideal habitat for abundant growth of ferns and mosses as well as other nonfl owering plants. Investigate the habitats and uniqueness of these
fascinating plants as we explore an old growth forest, wetlands, and the waterways and falls of the Glen’s Natural Area, one of Pennsylvania’s most scenic places. Learn to identify major common genera and species from Susan Munch, an experienced botanist, who has spent her entire career studying these special plants. Susan is the author of “Outstanding Mosses and Liverworts of Pennsylvania.” Join us as we explore one of Pennsylvania’s most beautiful and alluring natural areas where nonfl owering plants thrive. Ricketts Glen is known for its majestic geologic formations which helped produce the 21 beautiful waterfalls within the
Glen’s Natural Area.
Tuition: $80 per person; includes instruction and 6 ACT 48 credit hours. Bring your own lunch. |
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Bat Ecology
AUGUST 4 - 6. 2010 (WED – FRI) $245 per person
Canoe Creek State Park, Blair County
Heidi Boyle
Join knowledgeable naturalists and biologists for an indepth look at the ecology of bats that inhabit Pennsylvania. This seminar will explore bat habitat, bat ID, and the impact of bats on their environment. You will learn research techniques and how to handle a variety of equipment such as an ultrasonic detector, harp trap, and mist nets for bat sampling. This is a close-up opportunity to experience
ongoing research and methods for bat capture and release as part of our evening activities. Evening activities will also include visiting a summer maternity site, learning about wildlife rehabilitation, and discovering other endangered critters of the region.
Tuition: $245.00 per person; includes lunches, instruction, educational resources, and 20 ACT 48 credit hours. You must arrange for lodging on your own. (Academic credit is available and optional. An additional per credit fee charged by Cedar Crest College would apply). |
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WILD MUSHROOMS:
Natural history, collecting, preparing and eating
AUGUST 28, 2010 (SAT) 2 pm–evening
Albany Township, Berks County
Jim Brett
Special Fundraising Event to Support the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist Program
Late autumn rains nourish the proliferation of mushrooms in our region, and this very special program will take you on a shrooming adventure from exploring the forest for toadstools
and learning about the fungus among us to preparing and serving a meal with edible mushrooms. Institute President
and naturalist, Jim Brett, will provide a glimpse into the natural history of mushrooms and helpful identification techniques, and will share his passion for exquisite mushroom dining at its best. The evening will conclude with a
candlelight dinner and the fi nest
foods to include edible wild and
not-so-wild mushrooms and more.
You’re welcome to linger after dinner and socialize with Jim Brett, a renowned international naturalist and wonderful storyteller. Grab your gear, basket, hand lens and favorite mushroom recipe and learn more about the fungus beneath our feet.
Attendance is limited to 8 persons so register early.
Tuition: $125.00 per person; includes instruction, a field excursion, dinner with edible mushrooms to sample, and evening with Jim Brett. Information
on local lodging will be provided for those coming from further distances.
Adults only.
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The Color of Water: Mixing Art and Science
July 30, 2010 (FRI) 9:30 am - 4 pm
Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center
Philadelphia
Vivian Williams
Audience: Upper elementary/middle school/high school teachers
The Color of Water: Mixing Art and Science Multimedia Art is a wonderful vehicle for documenting environmental observations and tapping into non-traditional learning styles. Vivian will showcase various techniques for studying stream systems and assessing student understanding, using activities from the Stroud Water Research Center’s art-science series “The Science of Water Through the World of Art.” We will be investigating:macroinvertebrates, streamside trees and the Color of Water. Spend the day drawing, water-coloring and creating a multi-media poster on the benefi ts of trees while you learn do some scientific exploring and measuring and assessing stream health. Science can communicate via data and art is conveyed through gesture and image. Art off ers a universal form of communication and our objective for this program is for participants to become engaged, informed, and maybe even transformed. We want you to look at a river or landscape in a fresh, new way.
Tuition: $5 per person for classroom teachers (this special cost is made possible by a grant supporting
formal classroom teachers) and includes instruction, lesson plans, lunch and 6
ACT 48 credit hours. Pennsylvania Master Naturalists are invited to attend as part of their advanced training requirements for a tuition fee of $20 per person.
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