BIOLOGY

     

The Barbara A. Beiser  

Field Station

 

Barbara Beiser Voorhees was a 1949 graduate of Marietta College.  She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a BA in Business. Barbara was born in Marietta and graduated from Marietta High School. Her father, John Beiser, was a circulation manager at The Marietta Times and a local golf pro. Her grandfather, Dr. John A. Beiser, was a dentist in Marietta -- his office was located at 254 Front Street from 1901 until his death in 1962. Barbara died on August 2, 2005 in Highland Park, New Jersey.  Barbara is survived by her husband Ralph, four children, 15 grandchildren, and her brother John.  Ralph  is a retired stockbroker and graduated from Rutgers University in 1948 and received his MBA from NYU in 1950. The field station property was in the Beiser family for many years and was last farmed before the Great Depression, although portions have been logged since.  

History

if slides do not show above, turn off ad blocking for this site and/or see the troubleshooting instructions here.

     Marietta College, through the generosity of Ralph Voorhees, and with the cooperation of the Friends of the Lower Muskingum and funding from the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program, operates the Barbara A. Beiser ('49)  Field Station.  Named for Barbara Beiser, Valedictorian of the Marietta College class of 1949 and Ralph's wife of over 50 years,  the field station occupies 2000 feet of riverbank on the Little Muskingum River about 5 miles east of the college campus.  The approximately 70 acre site has a variety of terrestrial habitats including mature deciduous forest, successional forest and old fields on a landscape that ranges from flat river terraces to steep forested slopes with rock outcrops.  A number of wetlands including seeps, springs, streams and small floodplain ponds are also present.

The station is used for a number of purposes.  Classes such as Flowering Plants, Field Biology Techniques, Lower Plants, and Zoology all use the site.  Special field trips are arranged for bird watching, visits to the ponds during the salamander and frog breeding seasons and spring wildflower viewing, to name just a few. 

 

 

When fully developed, the station  will have a pavilion and field laboratory building, as well as a network of trails including marked nature trails.  We envision a full program of educational opportunities, including  field trips for local K-12 students, training sessions for their teachers, and nature study opportunities for citizens of all ages.

 

Aerial view of the field station.  SR 26 runs east-west just out of the top of the frame; the Ohio River similarly runs southwest below the frame.  The red squares approximate the property boundaries.  

     

 

Updated 10/04/07 by DMC