PELLSTON, Mich. — The University of Michigan Biological Station is offering visitors the opportunity to tour the historic campus, meet scientists and students, and learn about their research.

UMBS, one of the nation's largest and longest continuously operating field research stations, will host an open house along Douglas Lake from noon to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, July 19.

The campus is located at 9133 Biological Rd. in Pellston, off Riggsville Road, about 20 miles south of the Mackinac Bridge and about 20 miles northwest of Petoskey.

Entry is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

Guests will be able to explore campus and meet with UMBS researchers who will be available to discuss their areas of expertise — including the Great Lakes Piping Plover captive rearing team — and showcase living organisms as well as mammal specimens from the UMBS collection. UMBS scientists study everything from disease ecology and animal behavior to plant community ecology and changing winters.

UMBS also will showcase exciting examples of historic research from its 117-year archives encompassing observations across different fields of study that are scientifically valuable today, especially for understanding long-term environmental change.

Plus, visitors will learn how they can use their phones in their own backyards to help naturalists document the biodiversity of the region.

During the UMBS Open House, visitors also can wander into the historic library on the Pellston campus, where the stories of northern Michigan live alongside science.

LaRue Library, a satellite of the U-M Science Library system, was built in 1949 and has grown to house nearly 10,000 books and journals, as well as 25,000 cataloged reprints, which have since been digitized.

 

The University of Michigan Biological Station serves as a gathering place to learn from the natural world, advance research and education, and inspire action. We leverage over a century of research and transformative experiences to drive discoveries and solutions to benefit Michigan and beyond.

Our vast campus engages all of the senses. Its remote, natural setting nurtures deep thought and scientific discovery.

Founded in 1909, UMBS supports long-term research and education through immersive, field-based courses and features state-of-the-art equipment and facilities for data collection and analysis to help any field researcher be productive. It is where students and scientists from across the globe live and work as a community to learn from the place.

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