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The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art

View of the Ned Smith Center from the parking lot entrance.

The Ned Smith Center

The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art is a non-profit nature center founded in 1993 to celebrate the life and works of its namesake, world renowned wildlife artist, naturalist, and writer Ned Smith. After his death in 1985, his wife Marie retained an extensive collection of his original paintings, sketches, and other works. Marie's desire to find an institutional home to house this collection eventually grew into the idea of the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art, which uses Ned's many overlapping interests and talents as a springboard for bridging the worlds of art and natural science. In 2002, Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker presented a check for $2 million to the Ned Smith Center towards construction of the facility that would become the modern-day nature and arts center. Construction was completed and the building was opened on October 9th, 2004.

Lands and Trails

The Ned Smith Center owns or leases about 500 acres of contiguous forestland on and along Berry Mountain and the Wiconisco Creek which includes over 12 miles of maintained hiking trails. Just outside, to the West of the nature center is a brand-new outdoor play area completed in 2019. The play area includes natural objects and structures to explore, and a sensory pathway for children to explore using sight, sound, touch, and smell. There are two trail systems at the center, the North trail system and the South trail system. The North trail system includes three short loops ranging from 0.3 miles to 1.1 miles. The South trail system, located across the Wiconisco Creek, includes 1.75 miles of the Lykens Valley Rail Trail, an incomplete rail trail project, runs through the Ned Smith Center lands and serves as the branching-off point for many of the other trails. At the top of Berry Mountain, on the West end of the Berry's Mountain Trail is a scenic overlook through the power line right-of-way of Millersburg to the North and the Susquehanna River to the South. Parking for the trails is located in the parking lot at the Ned Smith Center. A trail map may be found at the Ned Smith Center website, or at any entrance to the trail system. There is ample opportunity for wildlife watching on the land, with known species in the area including whitetail deer, bear, wild turkey, grouse, fox, and hundreds of species of songbirds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects. Hunting is permitted on Ned Smith Center land with a valid Pennsylvania hunting license anywhere from the rail trail south to the top of Berry Mountain.

Arts and Education

Galleries and Event Space

Nighttime view of the DeSoto Amphitheater during a show in 2018.

The Ned Smith Center features three art galleries: The Ned Smith Gallery, the Olewine Gallery, and the Romberger Gallery. The Ned Smith Gallery exhibits the work of Ned Smith on a permanent basis, rotating sketches and paintings from the center's permanent collection, as well as pieces on loan from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and private donors. The Olewine Gallery features exhibitions by artists whose work either depicts or is inspired by nature. Notable exhibitions in the Olewine gallery include The Mysterious John James Audubon, Fragile Nature (featuring the work of National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore), Andy Goldsworthy: Moments in Time, and Pennsylvania Artists: A Tribute, which featured Pennsylvania-based artists on a rotating basis, including wildlife artist Gerald Putt and photographer Matthew Christopher. The Romberger Hallway Gallery features 3-month exhibits of Central Pennsylvania artists and winners of the annual Youth Art Contest.

The center includes the DeSoto Amphitheater, an outdoor open-air amphitheater that features shows throughout the year including theater, classical music, and local bands. This facility is also used for weddings and other events.

Educational Programming

The Ned Smith Center conducts numerous education programs for youth and adults. The Discovery Series is a series of programs that connect people of all ages with art and nature through a variety of topics and events. Past events include learning about owls with Zoo America, basket weaving, sip and paint events, guided hikes, bird watching, gooey art, exploring planets and the atmosphere, learning from a wild game chef, and spring waterfowl watching along the bank of the Susquehanna River. The center also runs art, theater, nature, and outdoor adventure camps each summer.

Research

A Northern Saw-whet Owl in the hands of a bird bander.

Project SNOWstorm

The Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art serves as the institutional home of Project SNOWstorm, one of the largest and most ambitious Snowy Owl research studies in the world. Since 2013, more than 40 scientists, banders, wildlife veterinarians and pathologists have been studying the winter ecology of Snowy Owls when they migrate south from the Arctic. Currently, more than 70 Snowy Owls have been tagged with GPS transmitters allowing scientists to get a detailed look into their biology and movements.

Motus Wildlife Tracking

A Motus tower is located at the top of Berry Mountain as part of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, a collaborative research network coordinated by Acadia University that uses coordinated automated radio telemetry arrays to pick up the movements of small animals. Motus is used to track birds, bats, and large insects affixed with digitally-encoded radio transmitters that broadcast signals several times each minute.

Saw-whet Owls

Since 1997 the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art has been a leader in the efforts to learn more about the Northern Saw-whet Owl, the smallest owl in northeastern North America. Every fall a team of trained researchers and volunteers, led by project coordinator Scott Weidensaul, catches, bands, and releases hundreds of owls across three banding stations in Central Pennsylvania using mist nets. Through this process, the center plays a key role in coordinating an informal network of more than 120 owl banding stations across North America. This effort has helped map the movements of Saw-whet Owls, which were until recently considered quite rare due to their secretive behavior.

See Also

• Nature Center
• Northern Saw-whet Owl

References

Category:Nature Centers Category:Outdoor education Category:Art Galleries