Jennings Environmental Education Center
Encyclopedia
Jennings Environmental Education Center is a 300 acres (121 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Brady Township
, Butler County
, Pennsylvania
in the United States. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) north of Butler
on Pennsylvania Route 528
. The center contains a relict
prairie
of 20 acres (8.1 ha), the only publicly protected prairie ecosystem in Pennsylvania. Big Run, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek
, flows through Jennings Environmental Education Center, and it shares a border with Moraine State Park
to the south.
Jennings Environmental Education Center was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
(DCNR) and its Bureau of Parks as one of "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks".
for the citizens of Pennsylvania and specifically the students of the nearby elementary school
s, high school
s, college
s, and universities
. Jennings stays busy offering hands on opportunities to these students and their teachers with a "discovery and problem solving" approach.
, Indiana
and across the midwest to the Rocky Mountains
. The prairie at Jennings Environmental Education Center is the only protected prairie ecosystem in Pennsylvania. It provides a habitat
for plants that are unique to prairie and the endangered massasauga rattlesnake. Jennings Environmental Education Center was the first state park established to protect an endangered plant, the blazing star.
s at the end of the ice age in pursuit of wooly mammoths and giant ground sloths. It is believed that overhunting the mammoths and sloths lead to their eventual extinction.
The Iroquois
settled in the area and began to farm
the land by the end of the 16th century. They used fire to open areas for farming. This may have helped to sustain the prairie environment that is currently at Jennings Environmental Education Center.
European pioneers from the Thirteen Colonies
and New France
passed through the area and used the Venango Path
an Indian trail, portions of which have since been paved over by Pennsylvania Route 528. The trail extended from Pittsburgh
to Franklin. It was used by a historical figures such as Tecumseh
, Marquis de LaFayette
and George Washington
.
The area was not heavily settled until the 1800s. The first settlers cleared the land of its standing trees and began farming. The land was not ideal for farming and soon people looked for other uses of the land. They discovered coal
and the mining of coal became a booming industry in Western Pennsylvania.
Jennings Environmental Education Center is named for Dr. Otto Emery Jennings. He was a renowned botanist who searched throughout Pennsylvania for unique plant species. He discovered the Jennings Prairie in 1905 and was instrumental in the purchase and protection of the area by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (it became a "nature reserve" in 1952). Dr. Jennings ensured that the area would be protected for the enjoyment and future education of many generations of Pennsylvanians. Jennings Environmental Education Center was established in 1979.
Brady Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania
Brady Township is a township in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,452 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of , of which, of it is land and of it is water.-Demographics:As of the census of 2000,...
, Butler County
Butler County, Pennsylvania
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 174,083 people, 65,862 households, and 46,827 families residing in the county. The population density was 221 people per square mile . There were 69,868 housing units at an average density of 89 per square mile...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
in the United States. It is 12 miles (19.3 km) north of Butler
Butler, Pennsylvania
The city of Butler is the county seat of Butler County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, situated north of Pittsburgh. The population was 15,121 at the 2000 census.- History :...
on Pennsylvania Route 528
Pennsylvania Route 528
Pennsylvania Route 528 is an long state highway located in Butler county in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at US 19 near Zelienople. The northern terminus is at PA 8 near West Liberty.-Route description:...
. The center contains a relict
Relict
A relict is a surviving remnant of a natural phenomenon.* In biology a relict is an organism that at an earlier time was abundant in a large area but now occurs at only one or a few small areas....
prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
of 20 acres (8.1 ha), the only publicly protected prairie ecosystem in Pennsylvania. Big Run, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek
Slippery Rock Creek
Slippery Rock Creek is a small stream in Western Pennsylvania, a tributary of Connoquenessing Creek. From its source in Hilliards in Butler County, it flows through McConnells Mill State Park before flowing into the Connoquenessing in Ellwood City. Then, the Connoquenessing flows into the Beaver...
, flows through Jennings Environmental Education Center, and it shares a border with Moraine State Park
Moraine State Park
Moraine State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Brady, Clay, Franklin, Muddy Creek, and Worth townships in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The main feature of the park is its man-made lake, Lake Arthur, formed by impounding Muddy Creek, which is and is used for...
to the south.
Jennings Environmental Education Center was chosen by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources , established on July 1, 1995, is the agency in the U.S. State of Pennsylvania responsible for maintaining and preserving the state's 117 state parks and 20 state forests; providing information on the state's natural resources; and...
(DCNR) and its Bureau of Parks as one of "Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks".
Environmental Education
The main purpose of Jennings Environmental Education Center is to provide environmental educationEnvironmental education
Environmental education refers to organized efforts to teach about how natural environments function and, particularly, how human beings can manage their behavior and ecosystems in order to live sustainably. The term is often used to imply education within the school system, from primary to...
for the citizens of Pennsylvania and specifically the students of the nearby elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
s, high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
s, college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
s, and universities
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
. Jennings stays busy offering hands on opportunities to these students and their teachers with a "discovery and problem solving" approach.
Prairie
Prairies are extremely rare in Pennsylvania. They are usually found further to the west in OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
and across the midwest to the Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. The prairie at Jennings Environmental Education Center is the only protected prairie ecosystem in Pennsylvania. It provides a habitat
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
for plants that are unique to prairie and the endangered massasauga rattlesnake. Jennings Environmental Education Center was the first state park established to protect an endangered plant, the blazing star.
History
This first humans arrived in the Jennings Environmental Education Area nearly 15,000 years ago. These paleo-Indians followed the receding glacierGlacier
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. At least 0.1 km² in area and 50 m thick, but often much larger, a glacier slowly deforms and flows due to stresses induced by its weight...
s at the end of the ice age in pursuit of wooly mammoths and giant ground sloths. It is believed that overhunting the mammoths and sloths lead to their eventual extinction.
The Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
settled in the area and began to farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
the land by the end of the 16th century. They used fire to open areas for farming. This may have helped to sustain the prairie environment that is currently at Jennings Environmental Education Center.
European pioneers from the Thirteen Colonies
Thirteen Colonies
The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...
and New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
passed through the area and used the Venango Path
Venango Path
Venango Path was a Native American trail that ran from the Forks of the Ohio to Presque Isle, Pennsylvania, United States of America. The trail was named after the Native American village of Venango where French Creek empties into the Allegheny River...
an Indian trail, portions of which have since been paved over by Pennsylvania Route 528. The trail extended from Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
to Franklin. It was used by a historical figures such as Tecumseh
Tecumseh
Tecumseh was a Native American leader of the Shawnee and a large tribal confederacy which opposed the United States during Tecumseh's War and the War of 1812...
, Marquis de LaFayette
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette , often known as simply Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac, in the province of Auvergne in south central France...
and George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
.
The area was not heavily settled until the 1800s. The first settlers cleared the land of its standing trees and began farming. The land was not ideal for farming and soon people looked for other uses of the land. They discovered coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and the mining of coal became a booming industry in Western Pennsylvania.
Jennings Environmental Education Center is named for Dr. Otto Emery Jennings. He was a renowned botanist who searched throughout Pennsylvania for unique plant species. He discovered the Jennings Prairie in 1905 and was instrumental in the purchase and protection of the area by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (it became a "nature reserve" in 1952). Dr. Jennings ensured that the area would be protected for the enjoyment and future education of many generations of Pennsylvanians. Jennings Environmental Education Center was established in 1979.
Nearby state parks
The following state parks are within 30 miles (48.3 km) of Jennings Environmental Education Center:- Maurice K. Goddard State ParkMaurice K. Goddard State ParkMaurice K. Goddard State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Deer Creek, Mill Creek, New Vernon and Sandy Lake Townships, Mercer County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It features natural beauty, wildlife, waterways and public recreational facilities. Lake Wilhelm shares its shorelines with...
(Mercer CountyMercer County, PennsylvaniaMercer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 116,638. Its county seat is Mercer; Sharon is its largest city....
) - McConnells Mill State ParkMcConnells Mill State ParkMcConnells Mill State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Perry and Slippery Rock Townships, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park features a deep scenic gorge with the restored watermill and a covered bridge at the bottom, accessible by a roadway that winds between large,...
(Lawrence CountyLawrence County, PennsylvaniaLawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. In 2010, its population was 91,108. The county was added to the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area in 2003. The county seat is New Castle....
) - Moraine State ParkMoraine State ParkMoraine State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on in Brady, Clay, Franklin, Muddy Creek, and Worth townships in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The main feature of the park is its man-made lake, Lake Arthur, formed by impounding Muddy Creek, which is and is used for...
(Butler County)