Outdoor Museum

We would like to acknowledge the efforts of so many contributors to the Outdoor Museum project, particularly Gerry Hilferty, Dean Clouse and Brett Elliot at Hilferty Design and Associates for developing the family of sign designs used in this project. Shawna Wolfe (Bolin) offered vision and collaboration on nature center design, and project manager Gem Stone oversaw the sign production and installation process. Special thanks also to Susan Calhoun in facilities who harmonized signage installation with landscape assets. Sign installation would certainly not have been possible without the skilled efforts of Denton Guthrie, Delvin Guthrie, and Everett Clark.

Many thanks to the folks who contributed content for the 10 common species signage in the Outdoor Museum Visitor Center, including Bekka Brodie (insects), Joe Johnson (mammals), Shawn Kuchta and Steve Reilly (amphibians), Willem Roosenburg (reptiles), Kelly Williams/Don Miles/Stefan Gleissberg (birds), Kim Thompson/Susan Calhoun/Jim Dyer (plants). Also in the visitor area is a pollinator garden contributed by Susan Calhoun and students Emma Little, Ridge Cook, and Brady Dotson. Bekka Brodie and Athens area boy scouts contributed the bee hotel in the pollinator garden, Kelly Williams installed 2 bluebird houses, and Kim Thompson installed a bat box nearby.

Trailhead kiosk signs were developed with the help of community partners involved in initial trail-building efforts including a former student of the River Valley School (Leah Magyary) and members of the local chapter of NAMI. Along the trail system on The Ridges, interpretive signage features the Land Lab (with input by Don Miles, Jared DeForest, Jim Dyer, and Brian McCarthy), the Compost Facility (with input from Sarah Davis, Elaine Goetz and the sustainability crew), the astronomy Observatory (with input from staff and students in Physics & Astronomy including Joe Shields, Tom O’Grady and George Eberts), and Radar Hill (thanks to past and present engineering faculty/staff including Robert Lilley and David Juedes). Since the installation of these assets, Kelly Williams has also installed a new Motus Wildlife Tracking System on Radar Hill with interpretive signage on animal migration.

Students were an important part of the Outdoor Museum project: Education student Emily Feist developed a series of wayfinding signs for the trails as part of her Masters project, and contributed the trail map and logo design. She was pivotal in graphics as well as outdoor experience design and has joined us in an AmeriCorps position at the OHIO Museum Complex this year. MSES alumnae Jasmine Facun and Moira Snuffer developed content for signs about the Hocking River that are situated along the bike path in view of the river near Peden Stadium. There’s also a sign celebrating the OHIO-Chubu institutional partnership and commemorating cherry trees near the convo inspired by HTC interns Melissa Damico and Morgan Spehar and with the help of Chris Thompson and Ji-Yeung Jang.

The OMC’s Outdoor Museum was made possible through initial support provided by the OHIO Innovation Strategy in the office of the Vice President of Research and Creativity. Many thanks to Joe Shields for helpful discussions that shaped the project. The grant writing team included John Bowditch, Geoff Dabelko, Ed Pauley, Heather Stehle, Nancy Stevens, Alycia Stigall, Danny Twilley, and Sarah Wyatt and the project was managed by Gem Stone. Additional funding was provided by the Ohio EPA Environmental Education Fund, Ohio Center for Evolutionary and Ecological Studies, Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Service, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, OHIO Office of Global Affairs, Russ College of Engineering, OHIO Office of Sustainability and generous donations by members of the community including Willem and Kate Roosenburg, Steve and Rhonda Reilly, Shawna Wolf and several anonymous donors.