One of the hallmarks of a great research university is its provision of state-of-the-art academic resources that promote first-rate research and teaching on its campus. IU Bloomington can boast many such facilities–a multi-million-volume library for the humanities, high-tech laboratories for the sciences, state-of-the-art teaching facilities, superb computer resources, and world-class music and arts performance facilities. But there is one area where IUB lags behind many of the country’s major universities: a field facility for teaching and research in the natural sciences.

IU is one of a minority of major research universities that lacks such a facility. Well-known examples of university research preserves include Harvard’s Arnold Arboretum, Duke Forest, Stanford’s Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, the Cornell Arboretum, the Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. In fact, IU is one of only three universities in the Big Ten without a dedicated research or teaching facility on or close to its campus. Such facilities range in size from a few tens of acres to many thousand, and are used for a broad range of research, teaching and community outreach activities.

Why does IU need an outdoor research and teaching preserve? Such preserves provide "outdoor classrooms" for field-based science courses, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. They serve as "natural laboratories" for long-term research projects in ecology, botany, zoology, geology, meteorology and environmental sciences. They serve as a focal point for arts and humanities courses dealing with environmental policy or artistic depiction of the natural world. And they also provide an ideal venue for community outreach, fostering collaborations with schools, community groups and the university’s continuing education programs. A field preserve can build on IU’s strong emphasis on such field-based learning.
A recent survey identified over 30 undergraduate courses, serving over 1,500 students annually, that include field experiences. A dedicated preserve would enhance integration of these diverse disciplines and provide a focal point for IU’s growing bachelor of sciences in environmental sciences (B.S.E.S.) program.

What are the critical criteria that are essential to a successful research/ teaching preserve?

• The site should be close to campus, readily accessible for laboratory exercises and independent student research.

• It should be dedicated as a natural preserve in perpetuity, to permit development of long-term research and teaching initiatives.

• The land should be sufficiently diverse, in land forms and biota, to satisfy a broad range of research and teaching needs.

• It should be large enough to ensure diverse geological, meteorological and ecological conditions, minimizing the influence of boundary effects.

• A range of educational uses of the land should be encouraged, including graduate and undergraduate research, classroom teaching and educational outreach.

• Where possible, the value of the land should be magnified by cooperative agreements with neighboring government or private sector landholders.

Does such a piece of land exist? Perhaps we need look only right outside our back door! A 400 plus acre parcel of undeveloped university land exists on the northeastern corner of the IU campus, including hardwood forest, upland meadow and river wetland, and surrounds the Sycamore Valley and University Lake. It hosts diverse geological and meteorological conditions and is habitat to hundreds of species of plants and animals.

The land adjoins the City of Bloomington’s Griffy Lake Nature Preserve, where cooperative land-management plans can be developed. It is close enough to campus to permit walking access for laboratory sessions or for student research projects. There are, of course, limitations to the use of any university land, and compromises with existing uses of the land must be made. And while there may be other pieces of land that could be identified, the availability of this last piece of undeveloped university land, directly adjoining the IUB campus, makes it a logical location for a field facility for research and teaching on campus.

With the passing of our visionary IU Chancellor Herman B Wells, perhaps we would do well to recall his thoughts on stewardship of the natural lands on the IU campuses: "I hope our alumni will always insist upon retention of our precious islands of green and serenity–our most important physical asset, transcending even classrooms, libraries and laboratories in the ability to inspire students to dream long dreams of future usefulness and achievement."