Learning meets nature at environmental learning center
WOLF LAKE, Ind. (AP) - When Luke Gascho goes to his job at Merry Lea Environmental Learning Center of Goshen College, it's more than an opportunity to work in a beautiful, natural setting.
Gascho, who has been director at Merry Lea since 1997, says it offers an "intersection between personal passions of mine - my professional leadership skills and the fact that I believe that my faith also speaks to caring for the environment."
The leadership skills came from 20 years as a school principal in Pennsylvania and graduate degrees in educational leadership. But he always had an interest in the environment; his undergraduate degree was in biology.
"Working at Merry Lea - in this setting and with the focused mission themes - is quite different than my days as a principal. On the other hand, I did enjoy the out of doors a lot with gardening and hiking activities in western Pennsylvania," he said.
"Everywhere that I've lived, I have found and valued the connections with nature, faith and learning from my childhood to the present. It is wonderful to have a 'job' where these things are all very congruent with each other."
Merry Lea itself began in 1964 with the purchase of 80 acres - including where Merry Lea's learning center building currently sits - by Lee and Merry Jane Rieth. The Rieths lived and worked in southern Michigan, but were familiar with Noble County through the road-building company that Lee and his brothers operated, and looked to the area when they wanted to start a nature sanctuary and educational center.
"Being down in this region, (Lee) recognized the beauty and natural heritage of this particular region," Gascho said. "Then there was a great deal of affirmation from other people that, yes, this was a good place - because of the diversity of landscapes - to have an environmental center."
They operated Merry Lea as a nonprofit from 1967 until 1980, when it was donated to Goshen College.
"One of the things they wanted to have happen, in addition to getting people out in the landscape and being part of knowing nature, (was) to do research and have that be a kind of learning opportunity. From the very beginning, they thought of a college connection," Gascho said.
Merry Lea, which now boasts 1,189 acres of land purchased by the Rieths through the mid-1980s, offers seven miles of trails and welcomes about 6,000 preschool- through high school-age students for programs each year, as well as offering various programs to the public.
Gascho said developing academic programs for Goshen College students has been a thrust of the center's work during his 18 years. Undergraduate programs currently include agro ecology and sustainability leadership, as well as labs for environmental science majors. Merry Lea also hosts a graduate program in environmental education.
The growth in programs has led to a growth in facilities. Rieth Village, which houses undergraduate students, was built in 2007. In keeping with Merry Lea's emphasis on sustainability, the village, which received the first platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating in Indiana from the U.S. Green Building Council, gets about 40 percent to 45 percent of its power from a wind turbine and solar array.
"We're grateful to have both (the turbine and solar array)," Gascho said, "not just because they are important to us in terms of making alternative energy, but also in what they've been able to teach not only us here at Merry Lea, but other people in the region who have been informed from the data that we've collected from those systems."
Another effort that has impact beyond Merry Lea is the center's work to restore some of its former farmland to wetland, prairie and forest.
"Areas that are low that have been drained in the past are actually very important parts of wetland filtration systems for the whole watershed," Gascho said. "When we work on a wetland restoration project, we recognize that we're helping to have healthier water not just here at Merry Lea, but since we're at the southern branch of the Elkhart River system, it actually has an influence as one goes on the Elkhart River on toward Lake Michigan."
Adding to his interest in Merry Lea's mission and programs, Gascho said becoming a grandfather during the last 18 years has helped him think more about how caring for the environment affects future generations.
"We have an ongoing need for understanding our environment and paying attention to having it healthy for future generations," he said. "Whether it's a young elementary student who's here learning about that concept and gaining an appreciation for the environment, or whether it's a graduate student learning how to instruct in state and national park systems or regional park systems or nature centers - to me that's infusing knowledge and learning into the future."
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Source: KPCNews, http://bit.ly/1Mtx1cP
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Information from: The News-Sun, http://www.kpcnews.com