Leaders:
Andrew Zadnik (Director of Land Stewardship, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy)
Charles Bier (Senior Director-Conservation Science, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy)
Mike Kuzemchak (Director of Operations, Fallingwater, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy))
Brian Jones (Land Stewardship Coordinator, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy)
Anne Talarek (Horticulture Specialist, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy)
Depart: 7:30 a.m.
Return: 5:30 p.m.
Difficulty: Intermediate. Attendees will walk from the visitors' center to Fallingwater and hike for an hour in Bear Run Nature Reserve on sometimes rocky terrain.
Destination: Fallingwater/Bear Run Nature Reserve
Conference themes: Forest Management
Explore Bear Run Nature Reserve, over 5000 acres of mixed deciduous forest owned and managed by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy (WPC). The Reserve is home to over 500 species of plant, 53 bird species, and iconic wildlife including black bear, fisher, bobcat, and brook trout. The watershed of Bear Run, a state-designated Exceptional Value stream, is nearly entirely protected within the Reserve and is the setting for Fallingwater, a private home originally designed in 1935 and now widely acclaimed as a masterpiece of organic architecture. WPC staff will share challenges and successes of managing the Reserve including the restoration of planted conifer stands and agricultural fields to native forest, the removal of a dam on Bear Run, pesticide treatment to protect Eastern Hemlock trees from invasive Hemlock Wooly Adelgid, and hosting over five million visitors to Fallingwater since the house opened to the public in 1964. Compliment your visit to the Reserve with a guided tour of the Fallingwater house, a site inscribed in The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2019.
Fee: $125
Capacity: 60
Transportation: Bus from Conference Venue
Join the people who protect and manage our natural areas.