Powdermill Nature Reserve, the environmental research center of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, has been dedicated to its mission of research, education, and conservation for over 50 years. It is a place for scientists, for students, and for families who are interested in the natural world. The Powdermill bird migration research program is home to the one of the longest continually running bird banding stations in the United States. A wide variety of public education programs serve children and adults. Researchers from around the world conduct diverse long- and short-term scientific studies in herpetology, botany, invertebrate zoology, and ornithology.

Get Hooked on Your Local Nature Reserve

May 12, 2012
8 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Free; no registration required

Visit Powdermill Nature Reserve for a fun-filled day of free nature activities and demonstrations for all ages. The event is led by scientists and educators from Carnegie Museum of Natural History and Powdermill Nature Reserve.

• Visit the bird banding and bioacoustics labs where birds and their migration patterns are studied.
• Go out in the field with researchers and experience turtle trapping and fish surveying, and learn more about these important scientific studies.
• Take a naturalist-led hike on the trails or discover the plants, animals, and insects of Appalachia at your own pace in the family exploration area.

Powdermill’s Get Hooked on Your Local Nature Reserve is being held in conjunction with Trout Unlimited’s Laurel Highlands Trout Trail Festival. Free shuttles between Powdermill and the Ligonier Valley YMCA will be running throughout the day. Get Hooked on Your Local Nature Reserve is presented by the museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystems.

Adopt A Bird Band

The Adopt-A-Bird-Band program invites nature lovers of all ages to become personally involved in supporting the vital biodiversity and conservation research at the core of Carnegie Museum of Natural History's mission. Adoptions make great gifts for bird lovers, budding naturalists, and conservation enthusiasts, or anyone who wants to celebrate the arrival of spring in a unique and special way. Take the Laurel Foundation Challenge: The Laurel Foundation will match your donation dollar-for-dollar up to $20,000! Click here to explore the adoption website!

About Powdermill

Powdermill was established in 1956 to serve as a field station of Carnegie Museum of Natural History for long-term studies of natural populations—their life histories, behaviors, and ecological relationships.

Powdermill Nature Reserve is both a place and a philosophy. It stands as a symbol of the human vision—both scientist and philanthropist alike. The museum's need for a natural area which could be used as a laboratory and preserved for the study of natural processes was understood and outlined in 1948 by Dr. M. Graham Netting, then Assistant Director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Since he believed the Ligonier Valley to be the finest natural area in western Pennsylvania, he personally instituted a search for a suitable site for his vision.

In 1956, General and Mrs. Richard K. Mellon and Dr. and Mrs. Alan M. Scaife presented to Carnegie Institute, for the use of the Natural History Museum, eleven tracts of land totaling 1,160 acres, beginning about three miles south of Rector. The area was named "Powdermill Nature Reserve, a Research Station of Carnegie Museum." Over the next several years, additional acreage was added to the Reserve through other generous gifts, and today, Powdermill Nature Reserve offers over 2,200 acres of woodlands, streams, open fields, ponds, and thickets.

The reserve is used by scientists to monitor and study changes in the local ecology and wildlife populations. It has served as a refuge for many plants and animals which, as a result of habitat distruction, are now becoming increasingly rare in our region as their habitats are destroyed. Powdermill Run, the mountain spring stream that traverses the mixed deciduous forest property, was found to be one of the very few unpolluted streams available for ongoing studies of aquatic life.

Today, as the Reserve celebrates its fifty-year anniversary, it is far more beautiful than when it was established, due to the natural growth of protected vegetation and the efforts of many supporters.