Marietta College Biology Department Field Station

The Barbara A. Beiser Field Station has an interesting story behind it, one filled with a number of fascinating characters. Like any good story, it has its plot twists, its surprises, its heroes, and even a villain or two.

Our story starts with a remarkable woman, Barbara Voorhees, a woman of many interests and causes. Wife of Ralph Voorhees and mother of 4 children, Barbara raised her family while contributing to a number of civic causes in and around Brunswick New Jersey where the Voorhees family made their home. Barbara certainly would have fit in with today's Marietta College and its emphasis on civic engagement; while living in New Brunswick she was president of its YMCA and a playhouse there, as well as volunteering at Meals on Wheels.

Upon Barbara's untimely passing in 2005; Ralph began to look for ways to honor her memory. Of course he gave generously to his own alma mater, Rutgers University, an institution he and Barbara had supported for years. In the back of his mind, however, was a piece of property he and Barbara had bought from her family, the Beisers, just outside of Marietta, Ohio. Barbara and Ralph had visited her family in Marietta many times, and they visited the old family farm and the nearby church where the family had attended church in the 1800's and where several members of the family are buried on a small knoll in site of the family homestead. The family had not lived there since her grandfather, John A. Beiser, went to college and became a dentist, moving into Marietta in the process.

Living in New Jersey, it was impractical for Ralph to actively manage the property, and he delegated this task to his nephew, David Sands, son of Barbara's sister Judy. David is himself a graduate of Marietta College, with a background in geology and environmental science. As the Safety/Service Director for the city of Marietta, David was in a unique position to see several opportunities when Ralph contacted him to see if there might be some way a gift of the property could be of use to Barbara's alma mater, Marietta College. David was aware of a state initiative, the Clean Ohio Green Space Conservation Program, that provided money for local entities to purchase green space and prevent its further development. David in turn contacted a local woman, Marilyn Ortt, a botanist and also a Marietta College graduate, and director of many local green initiatives to see what she though of the idea. Marilyn knew the college was very interested in obtaining a field station, and put David in contact with Dr. Dave McShaffrey of the biology department at the college in the spring of 2006. The college deliberated the idea over the summer, and on August 17th, 2006, David Sands led a group from the college to the site and planning began to apply for the state program. The idea was to leverage Ralph's gift by purchasing the land from him with Clean Ohio funds; this would allow Ralph to endow the field station with a fund to assure its future operation and development.

A team from the college set about writing the grant proposal; Beth McNally, the college's grant writer wrote most of the text with much help from Marilyn Ortt; the station plan was developed by Dave McShaffrey. Provost and Dean of the College Sue DeWine was a vocal supporter of the effort and helped to smooth the way for the project in several key areas. A hitch arose when it was determined that the College was not eligible for Clean Ohio funds. At this point, Marilyn Ortt stepped in with the Friends of Lower Muskingum River, a land conservation group which was not only eligible to receive Clean Ohio funds, they already written several successful grants to that program. One important task was to gather support from local officials; this work was done mostly by Marilyn Ortt and David Sands. The grant was submitted in the fall of 2006 and we received notification that we had received the grant in the spring of 2007.

Work began immediately on implementing the grant. The first step was to resurvey the property; as it turns out the requirements of the state program prohibit the construction of any buildings on the land purchased with state funds. Thus, we had to have the surveyor lay out a one-acre plot for Ralph Voorhees to donate directly to the college so that if we ever want to place a building at the station it will be possible to do so. Conveyance of this land to the college also meant that the access road and parking lot would not be on any of the land owned by the Friends, thus ensuring that most of the property will remain undeveloped in any way.

With the college receiving deed to some of the property directly, however, new problems arose. The College's Board of Trustees would now have to approve the transfer, and additional information had to be developed for them. Dan Bryant, vice-president of the college for finance stepped in to shepherd the proposal through the board, which approved the transfer in the summer of 2007.

The pieces were all in place for the land transfer and application was made to the state for the release of the first of the funds; the funds to actually purchase the property. The Clean Ohio Program requires a 1/4 local match; these funds were provided by Ralph Voorhees himself. Meanwhile, the fall semester started and the first classes (Zoology, Field Biology Techniques and Flowering Plants) began to use the site. The first aquatic sampling was done by the Zoology class on September 4th; the first permanent transect was surveyed by the field biology class the following day. Student volunteers began clearing brush and creating trails. The first such volunteers met at the site on September 12, 2007 (David Merkle, Bill Barron and Nick Erland).

While waiting for the land transfer to proceed, Ralph and the college decide to go ahead and have a dedication for the facility. The dedication occurred on campus September 15th, 2007, and was attended by Ralph Voorhees, two of his children; Barbara's brother John, and a number of the Beiser family and friends, both local and from as far away as Texas! The dedication was organized by Linda Stroh of the Advancement Office working under the direction of Lori Lewis, vice-president for advancement at Marietta College. The ceremony was followed by lunch at President Jean Scott's house, and, later in the day, a trip to the property itself. More on the dedication can be found here.

Dedication Day at the Barbara A. Beiser Field Station.

Front Row (l to r): Althea, Bradford, Tasha. Second Row: Dave Jeffery (Geology, kneeling), Judy Voorhees Trope, Bonnie Sands, Elizabeth Sands, Dave McShaffrey (Biology). Back: Andrea Miller, Mark Miller (Mathematics, Chair of Faculty), Alan Voorhees, Ralph Voorhees, David Sands, Jack Trope, Almuth Tschunko (Biology), Steve Spilatro (Biology).