Photo by Elizabeth Vogler
As a docent at the Arboretum at Flagstaff I participate in monthly Educational Brown Bag lunches during the touring season. We have a variety of lectures, garden visits and field trips. This past week we had an interesting field trip that I thought I would share. We went to Prescott to visit the Highlands Center for Natural History. I have been to Prescott many times but did not know they were there. The mission of the Highlands Center for Natural History is to help children and adults discover the wonders of nature and become wise caretakers of the land. The facility and their programs are a wonderful addition to the Prescott community that should not be missed. The main building, the James Learning Center, is LEED certified, which means their utilities are off the grid, all powered by the sun. Part of our tour was to see all the components involved in being certified. It is a difficult and brave process in this day and age of electronics, but worth the effort in fulfilling their mission of being wise caretakers of the land. We spent our day looking at the features of the LEED building, eating lunch, and then walking the nature trail with a guide. Needless to say the flora and fauna have similarities to our elevation (ponderosa and Abert squirrels), but also differences with manzanita common and a variety of oaks I haven't seen before.
They are very involved with the schools of Yavapai County, providing education at the center, and through school nature gardens (not vegetables) that teach, inspire and connect them to nature. In addition they provide adult education on the natural history of the Central Arizona Highlands. They have 2 miles of nature trails to walk and learn in, on 80 acres of property near Lynx Lake. Twice a year they do native plant sales. Their next project is a small arboretum. If you are interested in visiting or learning more their web site is www.highlandscenter.org.
Loni Shapiro
No comments:
Post a Comment