Environmental Education

In the brown barn where taxidermic hawks and live snakes in glass cages welcome visitors to the Great Valley Nature Center, executive director Tom Pascocello talked up his "dream. " That dream - 430 acres in the Pocono Mountains for a residential environmental-education camp - is becoming reality. As the region's demand for environmental and adventure programs grows, the center is embarking on an ambitious course. In over a year, fund-raising efforts by Pascocello and others have resulted in $550,000 to purchase property near Tobyhanna State Park and Lake Wallenpaupack in the Pocono Mountains.

The largest tract of privately owned green space in Philadelphia is now protected from development into perpetuity. Officials at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education reached an agreement for a conservation easement on 325 acres of woods and fields in Upper Roxborough, virtually all the land the center owns. In doing so, the center gave up the potential for tens of millions of dollars if it had sold the property to a developer. And it traded the land for $750,000 in state grant money, minus administrative fees.

The din of traffic from the Schuylkill Expressway has receded. It's the wind you hear, tugging at branches of sassafras and ash, while a red-tailed hawk swoops into the steel-gray sky. Just another winter day of stern but incomparable beauty at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education. But hardly anyone is around to enjoy nature's show. "Some people would call this place the best-kept secret of environmental education," says Tracy R. Kay, the new executive director of the center.

Placing a plastic spider on the desk of an unsuspecting teacher has all the makings of the perfect fifth grader's practical joke. But Joan Stewart-Hall's class of student-comedians had better watch out. This Owen J. Roberts School District elementary teacher keeps a plastic tarantula in her school bag. "He (the spider) even has a name," Stewart-Hall said. "I want my students to know I feel comfortable in the environment so they will feel comfortable learning about nature. " Stewart-Hall is one of 33 public and parochial school teachers from Chester and Delaware Counties taking part in Environmental Education Resource Teacher Training (EERTT)

"Ground Play: NEXUS at the Schuylkill Center. " Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Road. Sept. 19 to Nov. 28. Opening reception 4-8 p.m. Sept. 19. 215-482-7300, www.schuylkillcenter.org . "Ground Play: A Nexus All-Members Show. " Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. Thursday to Oct. 9. 215-684-1946, www.nexusphiladelphia.org . Manayunk EcoArts Festival. Along Main Street in Manayunk. Sept. 25-26. 215-482-9565, www.manayunk.

Rail line proposals should be separate projects Bravo to Richard L. Allman for his June 17 commentary, "Here's a railway plan with legs. " In it, he advocates something that SEPTA should have accomplished a long time ago: a divorce between the proposed Philadelphia-Reading Schuylkill Valley Metro service and the proposed extension of SEPTA's Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line to the King of Prussia Mall. SEPTA never should have let these two disparate projects get married in the first place because they serve two different markets.

Sixth graders Barry Johnson and Curtis Smith were clearly enjoying themselves while getting their hands dirty in class. Instead of reading in a textbook about how rainwater runoff carries away rich topsoil when wetland areas are overdeveloped, the two enthusiastic students at Gordon Middle School were able to use their hands and perform an experiment that showed how the process works. While it might have been easier to show her science students how erosion works by using a textbook, science teacher Bette Conroy thought her students would get a better lesson - and have more fun - if the EcoVan came to visit.

The Wharton Small Business Development Center is seeking nominations for its third annual Philadelphia 100 list, which recognizes the fastest-growing private companies in the Philadelphia area. The companies are ranked on the percentage increase in sales between 1988 and 1990. To qualify, the company must be an independent, privately held corporation, proprietorship or partnership with sales of more than $75,000 but less than $25 million in fiscal 1988. "We're looking at close to 1,000 nominations based on what we've seen so far," said David Thornburgh, director of the center and manager of the project.

You don't have a tent? You wouldn't know how to put it up if you did? Or where? And what if it rains? What if the fire goes out? What about bears? The aspiring first-time camper faces a virtual forest of obstacles. This weekend at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 340 acres of reclaimed nature in Roxborough, a team of trained environmental educators will walk you past the scariest obstacles. Show up with your sleeping bag Saturday afternoon at 3 for the center's first Fall Family Camping program and, by Sunday morning, you're an experienced camper.

Briar Bush Nature Center has announced an ambitious three-year campaign to raise money to expand its environmental education programs and restore the museum and public spaces. "The center is a vital community asset," said Robert Lewis, president of the Friends of Briar Bush. "Briar Bush is a closed-in nature center in a highly populated area. It provides people a chance to get back to nature in an almost-urban environment. " The township bought the 12-acre property in 1962 after Florence and Everett Griscom, a nature-loving Quaker couple, died and left their property up for grabs.

The largest tract of privately owned green space in Philadelphia is now protected from development into perpetuity. Officials at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education reached an agreement for a conservation easement on 325 acres of woods and fields in Upper Roxborough, virtually all the land the center owns. In doing so, the center gave up the potential for tens of millions of dollars if it had sold the property to a developer. And it traded the land for $750,000 in state grant money, minus administrative fees.

"Ground Play: NEXUS at the Schuylkill Center. " Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 8480 Hagy's Mill Road. Sept. 19 to Nov. 28. Opening reception 4-8 p.m. Sept. 19. 215-482-7300, www.schuylkillcenter.org . "Ground Play: A Nexus All-Members Show. " Nexus Foundation for Today's Art, Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St. Thursday to Oct. 9. 215-684-1946, www.nexusphiladelphia.org . Manayunk EcoArts Festival. Along Main Street in Manayunk. Sept. 25-26. 215-482-9565, www.manayunk.

DesignPhiladelphia 2009, described as the largest national show of its kind, is focusing its fifth annual show on issues such as environmental sustainability, urban development, and social responsibility - hot topics this year. The annual citywide celebration, which continues through Tuesday, presents exhibits, workshops, studio tours, lectures, and runway shows showcasing all aspects of design, ranging from architecture, product, and interior design to fashion, textile, and graphic design.

School is out for most students, but don't tell that to Jamie Zehmer and Josh Hosay. These boys are busy learning by hiking, bird-watching and spelunking. Ask Josh about the birds he watches, and he will drop everything, including his newly made bird feeder, to point out his favorite fliers. Goldfinches, wood thrushes, horned owls, swifts. No need to prod him for answers. The 9-year-old will jaw about wildlife like most children his age will about Pokemon. "I love nature so much.

It is the largest privately held undeveloped land in the city, a 364-acre relic of Philadelphia's Victorian past, when wealthy businessmen could acquire and bequeath vast swaths of land. The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is what it's called today, but in the late 19th century it belonged to one man: Henry Howard Houston, a railroad freight magnate who died in 1895, leaving it in trust for his grandchildren. Two of those grandchildren, Eleanor Houston Smith and Margaret Houston Meigs, inherited the Upper Roxborough tract in 1964 and used it to create the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center, a nature preserve where the public could glimpse a semblance of the first settlers' Philadelphia.

It is the largest privately held undeveloped land in the city, a 364-acre relic of Philadelphia's Victorian past, when wealthy businessmen could acquire and bequeath vast swaths of land. The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education is what it's called today, but in the late 19th century it belonged to one man: Henry Howard Houston, a railroad freight magnate who died in 1895, leaving it in trust for his grandchildren. Two of those grandchildren, Eleanor Houston Smith and Margaret Houston Meigs, inherited the Upper Roxborough tract in 1964 and used it to create the Schuylkill Valley Nature Center, a nature preserve where the public could glimpse a semblance of the first settlers' Philadelphia.

The murmur of a creek was the only sound one recent morning in a woodland clearing in Gladwyne. Then a stream of small visitors spilled off a yellow school bus, and the Riverbend Environmental Education Center echoed with noisy energy. The children turned over rocks, looking for brown crayfish and black mayflies in Saw Mill Run. "I got it. I found a bug," one youngster yelled, tipping a mayfly into a basin of creek water. Since 1974, the nonprofit Riverbend has made a science of creating fun for children by providing hands-on experiences in a natural setting.

You don't have a tent? You wouldn't know how to put it up if you did? Or where? And what if it rains? What if the fire goes out? What about bears? The aspiring first-time camper faces a virtual forest of obstacles. This weekend at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, 340 acres of reclaimed nature in Roxborough, a team of trained environmental educators will walk you past the scariest obstacles. Show up with your sleeping bag Saturday afternoon at 3 for the center's first Fall Family Camping program and, by Sunday morning, you're an experienced camper.

Rail line proposals should be separate projects Bravo to Richard L. Allman for his June 17 commentary, "Here's a railway plan with legs. " In it, he advocates something that SEPTA should have accomplished a long time ago: a divorce between the proposed Philadelphia-Reading Schuylkill Valley Metro service and the proposed extension of SEPTA's Route 100 Norristown High Speed Line to the King of Prussia Mall. SEPTA never should have let these two disparate projects get married in the first place because they serve two different markets.

In the brown barn where taxidermic hawks and live snakes in glass cages welcome visitors to the Great Valley Nature Center, executive director Tom Pascocello talked up his "dream. " That dream - 430 acres in the Pocono Mountains for a residential environmental-education camp - is becoming reality. As the region's demand for environmental and adventure programs grows, the center is embarking on an ambitious course. In over a year, fund-raising efforts by Pascocello and others have resulted in $550,000 to purchase property near Tobyhanna State Park and Lake Wallenpaupack in the Pocono Mountains.