With Earth Day celebrating its 54th anniversary on April 22, this past Sunday there was a free open house at the U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center (EESC) in Kearneysville “to pique the interest of the next generation of scientists,” said its Director Thomas O’Connell.
Casey Knapp, the center’s marketing manager, agreed. “It was an opportunity for the community to come and see the campus and facilities here,” she said. “We also wanted them to learn about science and, of course, have fun.”
The science center began as the Leetown Science Center in 1930. It was established by the U.S. Fisheries Experiment Station, operated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries, Division of Fish Farming, and Division of Scientific Investigation. Conducted research to restore, enhance, maintain, and protect fish and other important aquatic and terrestrial organisms and their supporting ecosystems.
The center has gone through many different national divisions. It is now part of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the nation’s largest civil and water, earth, and life sciences mapping agency. The USGS collects, monitors, analyzes and provides scientific understanding of natural resource conditions, issues and problems. The research mission states that it strives to “serve the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property due to natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy and mineral resources; and improve and protect our quality of life.
In 2021, the Leetown Science Center merged with the USGS’s Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland. The Leetown Science Center, now the Eastern Ecological Science Center, is the largest of the USGS’s 15 ecosystem science centers.
The Eastern Ecological Science Center occupies 466 acres at 11649 Leetown Road in Kearneysville. The site is known for its supply of cold water springs, extensive water retention and distribution systems, and a modern research lake, which supports a wide range of aquatic research. The center has three buildings, including a fish health laboratory, an experimental flow laboratory to conduct research on water flow, and an administrative building.
O’Connell said the center’s mission has changed, as it was primarily a fish hatchery as part of the Leetown Science Center. “The health of the fish population in the wild is monitored,” he said. “We want to see what’s causing this, like are areas being over-exploited?”
Last Sunday, 24 different stations were open to visitors on the center’s premises. A permanent station has two pools where visitors can spot trout, some for the first time. Trout can also be seen in the water flow experimental laboratory.
The day’s events included hands-on exhibits such as finding “salamanders” (not real ones) in a special exhibit for crafts using recycled materials. Visitors learned not only about fish, but also other important creatures in the environment, such as an exhibit on migratory birds, amphibians and even insects.
One of the projects included creating a model of the caddisfly to take home as a souvenir, Knapp said. The caddisfly is defined as any of a group of moth-like insects that are attracted to lights at night and live near lakes or rivers. Because fish feed on immature aquatic stages and trout take flying adults, caddis flies are often used as models for artificial flies used in fishing.
Knapp said the open house has been well attended in the past. “We had to stop touring during COVID, but we started again last year,” she said. “We had 200 to 300 people come.”
O’Connell said the open house will continue in the future. “We want the community to see what we do,” he said.
