Conservancy partnership nets LEC $25K

Lake Erie College has partnered with The Nature Conservancy in order to further the Conservancy’s Grand River Campus at the Morgan Swamp Preserve, 3973 Callender Road, in Ashtabula County’s village of Rock Creek.

Portions of the resources necessary to support the conservancy’s Grand River Campus came from a $25,589 National Science Foundation award to the college. The funds will “support planning and stakeholder engagement for its unique partnership with the TNC, the purpose of which is to enhance educational and research opportunities for northeast Ohio

students, teachers, and residents,” according to a news release from the college.

“It is rare for an institution to receive NSF funding of any size, and their support of our ideas and vision is a wonderful validation of our direction as a college, and especially in the sciences,” Lake Erie President Brian Posler said of the award.

The college went on to state that grant funding will allow it to serve as a hub of communication and interaction between K-12 educators, higher education institutions, and industry and government partners to determine how best to utilize the preserve and facilities to support science education and research in the region.

“(The funding) will allow us to put together a strategic plan for our use of the facility with the idea of getting input from schools and researchers and communities to find out what the needs are and what opportunities there are for engaging students and researchers around the Ashtabula area,” said Jacqueline Bilello, the conservancy’s Central Lake Erie Basin program manager.

The partnership will initiate vast overhaul to a 1920’s hunting lodge on the property that will be renovated to feature educational resources.

“The lodge was the final piece that we saw that would cement this place as a hub for conservation education and research,” says Bilello. “LEC was interested in a place that they could bring students out to do field experiments and studies and hold engaging classroom experiences in the field. It seemed like a perfect fit for us to get together and work towards reinventing this lodge into a field research station.

“There will probably be a phased approach to the renovation of the facility so we can start using it with limited use and add on as use and interest build for the facility.

John Tedesco, dean of the college’s School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, echoed her enthusiasm.

“We hope that the conference and subsequent renovation of the lodge will serve as a catalyst to bring our regional community together to provide top notch STEM education while improving cooperative conservation efforts,” he said.

Bilello acknowledges that, while the NSF award was of immense benefit, “we will need to continue to fundraise to make this happen and see it through to the end.”

For more information on the conservancy’s Morgan Swamp Preserve, call 440563-3081.

SUBMITTED — KENT MASON The Nature Conservancy’s Morgan Swamp Preserve is eager to collaborate with Lake Erie College as they expand the reach of their environmental education.