KU Field Station marks 75th anniversary with Visitors’ Day Oct. 5
LAWRENCE — In celebration of its 75th anniversary, the University of Kansas Field Station will open its core research area from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m Oct. 5 for its first public Visitors’ Day in more than 20 years. Members of the public will be welcomed behind the scenes to tour restricted-access research areas.
Stations will be set up along a three-quarter-mile gravel “research road” from the Armitage Education Center to the Frank B. Cross Reservoir. Participants may walk at their own pace — the entire route or just part of the way — and talk with researchers, who will discuss their work with visitors.
Restrooms will be available inside the Armitage Education Center, and limited-edition 75th anniversary shirts will be available while supplies last.
Visitors should check the Field Station’s Facebook and Instagram pages or the KU Calendar event page for directions, a map and updates in case of inclement weather. This event originally was scheduled for late April and was postponed because of spring storms.
The Field Station’s 1,650-acre core research area has headquarters at 350 Wild Horse Road, about 15 minutes north of downtown Lawrence. This area was initiated as a biological field station in 1947 with the arrival of herpetologist Henry Fitch at KU and the establishment of the 590-acre tract now known as the Fitch Natural History Reservation. The 75th anniversary celebration was delayed for two years so that a new structure, which was affected by setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, could be completed beforehand.
The 3,200-acre Field Station also includes the Baldwin Woods Forest Preserve and the Anderson County Prairie Preserve. It is managed by the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research, a KU research center housing a variety of environmental research labs and remote sensing/GIS programs in Takeru Higuchi Hall, Smissman Labs and the West District greenhouse.