Exploring the prairie still draws visitors to Jennings Environmental Education Center
BRADY TWP — Some hikers have been visiting Jennings Environmental Education Center for 30 years and have still never seen a resident massasauga rattlesnake in person.
But that doesn’t make the search any less fun or enticing, and a program coordinator at the Pennsylvania state park said the unique sights of the prairie ecosystem make it a destination people return to again and again, in search of the rare snake species.
It’s what makes the park’s Celebrate the Bloom continually popular, even this year, the 13th go-around of the event. Miranda Crotsley, a program coordinator at Jennings, said the Saturday event gained attendance faster than previous years, with many people coming to go on one of the guided tours of the park.
“Our walks have different leaders every year... I think that keeps people coming back,” Crotsley said. “It’s a great chance to learn from other experts in their field.”
Celebrate the Bloom boasted a full eight hours-worth of activity Saturday, with nature explorations, live music, animal encounters and plenty of environmentally-focused groups providing booths at Jennings. The Foltz School was also open for tours, giving people a look at a preserved one-room school house near the park.
With Crotsley commenting that the good weather helped boost turnout, many people said they don’t miss a chance to visit Jennings and the activity it has to offer.
“We do a lot out in the wilderness,” said Cindy Kaufman, of Slippery Rock, who goes to Jennings a few times per year. “We did the ‘Bird bloom,’ that was pretty neat.”
In addition to the guided tours that took place throughout the day, a plethora of vendors set up in Jennings Saturday, all of them connected to the environmental in some way, according to Crotsley. The Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition had a booth where Natalie Lamagna, environmental scientist for Stream Restoration Inc., demonstrated the effects of a watershed on a local ecosystem using a model.
Gethsemane Shumaker, of Volant, brought her 5- and 6-year-old sons to the booth so they could test out the model. She said that even at their age, their young minds are all about science and nature.
“We came last year, we kind of come to all the environmental events around here,” Shumaker said. “They’re really into science,” she added about her children.
Lamagna said the Slippery Rock Watershed Coalition has volunteer days where people can help the organization get rid of invasive species or plant seeds in wetlands. Events like Celebrate the Bloom offer the chance to get the word out to people who are interested in nature and preservation.
Other organizations, too, took the event as a chance to share information about their own programs and events. The Butler Outdoor Club had an informational booth at the park, and some of its members helped with the event’s behind the scenes. The Moraine, McConnells Mill and Jennings Commission — 3MJC, for short — also set up and had people aid with the event.
Stacie Williams, secretary of 3MJC, said the nonprofit organization helps with initiatives at all three parks it’s named after, and emphasized that people could visit them and participate in their programs without ever paying anything.
“It’s a great thing this is free, how many things can you go to and it doesn’t matter how many kids you have that are free?” Williams said.
As the day wore on, people could go on a wildflower walk, see a honey extraction demonstration, see live reptiles, learn about pollinators and hear live music. Crotsley said there were two scholars from Carnegie museums leading sessions at the event, whom drew people in with their specific areas of knowledge.
But Kaufman said it was the simple sights of the park that she enjoyed most Saturday.
“We saw one of those red-headed woodpeckers and a catbird,” she said, binoculars hanging from a strap around her neck.
