The NEW Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe (CREW)

Center for Research + Education at Wormsloe Experiential Learning Center

The University of Georgia has received important national attention because it is one of the few top research universities in the U.S. to offer students Experiential Learning opportunities. The Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe (CREW) fulfills that Experiential Learning mission better than any University of Georgia site. Here, students will learn life-changing critical thinking, communication abilities, and analysis skills as they encounter authentic place-based problems and real-world challenges. These creative revelations will happen in a new Research and Education center to be built on UGA’s 15.5 acre campus recently gifted to the University by the Wormsloe Foundation. The new building is essential, providing one place within the UGA system where students and faculty will work across traditional disciplinary boundaries in order to create new trans-disciplinary solutions to the “wicked” problems of our age.

The NEW Center

for Research and Education at Wormsloe (CREW)

CREW

is administered through the College of Environment and Design at the UGA Athens campus and in affiliation with the Wormsloe Foundation

Site Background and Wormsloe’s Tradition of Scholarship Located near Savannah on Georgia’s coast, the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe is situated on one of the nation’s most historic and environmentally rich sites. On land that was originally claimed and developed by founding Georgia colonist Noble Jones in the 1730s, Wormsloe provides a continuous thread through time of human interaction with the coastal environment.

Administered through the College of Environment and Design at the UGA Athens campus and in affiliation with the Wormsloe Foundation, CREW supports interdisciplinary research conducted by multiple colleges at UGA and other units from across the entire University System of Georgia. CREW engages a range of activities that integrates research findings with education, outreach, and stewardship.

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A Rich Human History

This collection and the unique physical site of a coastal plantation that functioned in various capacities across two centuries combine to form an exceptional historical resource exclusive to the Georgia coast.

Wormsloe now welcomes students, scholars, artists, and researchers to its domain, continuing this rich tradition. The elegant library building, constructed in large part by African American skilled laborers with close ties to Wormsloe, remains an irreplaceable element of Wormsloe’s cultural landscape.

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Much of the Wormsloe property transferred to the state in the 1970s. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) opened 822 acres to the public as Wormsloe State Historic Site in 1979. The site features a museum, nature trails, interpretation of Colonial and Native American life, and several historic features, including the ruins of Noble Jones’ eighteenth century fortified tabby residence and fort, as well as the Jones family cemetery. The Barrow family, ninth-generation descendants of Noble Jones, still own and occupy approximately 59 acres, including the main plantation house originally constructed in 1828, the library, formal gardens, and surrounding grounds. This private/public collaboration between the Georgia DNR and the Barrow family set the stage for a similar relationship with the University of Georgia, allowing for both private use by the family and public use by visitors and scholars.

Wormsloe’s Unique Ecological Environment The Wormsloe property also has significant natural resource value, featuring the unique ecosystems of a coastal salt marsh environment, which, biologically, is more productive than tropical rain forests. This marsh serves as a buffer between mainland and ocean, protecting and nurturing numerous habitats, serving as a carbon sink, processing organic and inorganic wastes, providing a nursery for fish and shellfish, and affording erosion control. The area was explored and documented by several prominent early naturalists, including John and William Bartram. The inland portion of Wormsloe had enough topsoil to farm on a relatively small scale, support cattle, and grow pine timber throughout its history.

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AMONG THE OLDEST OF GEORGIA’S TIDEWATER ESTATES, WORMSLOE PLAYS AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN GEORGIA HISTORY. Initially, the site served as a critical strategic military post in the early defense of Savannah.

The foundations of a working agricultural landscape were also laid during this period and continued to expand through the Civil War. The site also served as a retreat and tourist site for the family in the early twentieth century, when visitors came to enjoy its famous gardens and iconic allée of oaks. Along the way, the family maintained a library with an unrivaled collection of books and manuscripts related to Georgia history from Colonial times to the early twentieth century. The DeRenne Library, as it was called, was a free-standing library built by the family to house books, manuscripts, letters, photographs, and other historic objects, all of which became part of the University of Georgia’s Rare Books and Manuscripts collection in 1938.

Wormsloe’s coastal location on the Isle of Hope, approximately 10 miles from downtown Savannah, has always been advantageous for travel, communication, fishing and hunting, and attracted residents well before colonial times. Native American occupation of the area dates back to 6000 BCE. Evidence indicates long-term use of the islands, rivers and coastal areas by native tribes. As yet largely unexplored, Wormsloe is thought to be replete with Native American archaeological artifacts in addition to artifacts of the Colonial and Civil War eras.

In 2013, The Wormsloe Foundation gave 15.5-acres of Wormsloe to UGA, establishing the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe (CREW). CREW supports students and faculty engaged in the broad fields of environmental history. Administered from the UGA College of Environment and Design, more than a dozen units at UGA are actively engaged in research and education in support of the CREW vision and mission, including: Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, Odum School of Ecology, College of Engineering, Warnell School of Forestry, the Georgia Museum of Art, and the State Botanical Garden.

The Center for Research and Education at

CREW VISION Wormsloe is a model ecosystem for research supporting the broad fields of environmental history and fosters a community of scholars that promotes collaboration and the integration of knowledge.

GOAL I.

CREW MISSION The mission of CREW is to enhance research and educational opportunities for college students and faculty, provide access to and support for research onsite and maintain a platform for accumulation, integration, and dissemination of multi-disciplinary knowledge.

GOAL II.

PRESERVATION AND ACCESS The natural environments, historical and cultural resources of Wormsloe are preserved and protected for succeeding generations, while providing appropriate access for current Research and Education activities.

RESEARCH AND SUPPORT Support and promote interdisciplinary research for individual and team projects, networking of larger research initiatives, augment logistical support onsite, and increase site-specific knowledge as a platform for future research.

Photo by Mark Uzmann

GOAL III.

EDUCATION AND OUTREACH Provide experiential opportunities for students and faculty in a wide range of academic fields; foster a community of scholars that promotes the exchange of ideas, collaboration, and the integration of knowledge; and facilitate the flow of information between the scientific community and general public.

Site Assessment for CREW

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With Wormsloe’s advantageous location that includes a relatively undisturbed landscape and extensive range of historical uses (Native American, Colonial, etc.), the site offers rare and significant opportunities for multi- and inter-disciplinary research. And as a unique education center and field lab, as well as a site for demonstration of research techniques and interpretation of coastal Georgia ecology and history, the potential for CREW’s enhancement to the state’s education and scholarship are unparalleled.

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Environmental History and a Recent Discovery The tradition of exploration and discovery, first documented by the Bartrams, continues to this day. Site-specific accumulation of data at CREW provides an emerging view of the complexity and interconnected framework of environmental processes. Interdisciplinary study provides the opportunity to overlay the work of many scientists in order to discover new patterns and processes that would not be apparent from any single area of research. CREW currently contributes to the environmental history knowledge-base through ongoing studies that encompass field research based on historical documents.

An example of student engagement with the site and the progression of interdisciplinary research involves a recent archaeological discovery:

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NETWORKING CREW is part of a larger network of biological field stations. Increasingly, these field stations are playing an important logistical role in supporting networks that extend beyond any single facility. Because environmental processes occur on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales, data streams are standardized and networked to varying degrees to facilitate cross-site and long-term analyses.

Three Wormsloe Fellows with diverse majors (geography, archaeology, and history) focused on fine-scale geospatial site mapping, the subsurface repository of artifacts and analysis of relevant archival collections. Working synergistically and sharing knowledge and ideas, Wormsloe Fellows collect data, which mutually support and inform several disciplinary approaches. Multiple types of geophysical techniques are currently employed to better assess and understand the lateral extent, depth, composition, and origin of near-surface archaeological features. Simultaneously, reconstruction of land use history at Wormsloe is underway based on relevant archival collections at the Hargrett Library.

Both field investigations and assessment of the historical documents are geographically referenced and integrated into the burgeoning GIS mapping data base, developed within UGA’s Center for Geospatial Research. As additional geophysical and archival data are collected, opportunities for long-term research continue to evolve. Remarkably, in a single semester, these three Wormsloe Fellows leveraged each area of study to enable their discovery of the location of Wormsloe’s historic rice mill.

Integration of Research and Training Time spent at a field site is highly motivational for students.

Experiential learning allows for exposure to research in the field that often inspires students in ways that traditional university classroom settings—many of which have dropped the field components of their courses in recent years— may not. Students engaged with research at CREW are empowered to ask new questions, develop a wide range of technical and research skills, and routinely solve emerging problems as they work synergistically with other students and scientists. They work in research teams with both the freedom to explore on their own and under the guidance of numerous faculty. As students progress from passive learners to active scientists they develop skills to enable future research, contribute to a highly productive workforce, and mature into a scientifically literate citizenry.

Educational and interpretative themes fostered by CREW 1. Maintain an array of firsthand, experiential opportunities for students and faculty 2. Provide access by faculty and students to terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems for investigative research 3. Expand connections between research, education and outreach 4. Develop an understanding of how past land use activities affects present resources 5. Increase the public’s awareness of relationships between human welfare and ecological systems 6. Increase the public’s understanding of the value gained from scientific research 7. Strengthen the cultural appreciation of natural history and environmental quality

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Wormsloe as a Research and Education Center The Wormsloe Foundation and UGA Graduate School partner to select and support a cohort of graduate students from multiple units at UGA. Wormsloe Fellows select Wormsloe as a focus for their dissertations or theses. In addition to faculty advice and guidance, the varied disciplines within a Wormsloe Fellow cohort provides mutually beneficial collegial support. Opportunities for students working within a multi-disciplinary team provide real-world experiences which cannot be replicated in a traditional classroom. The transfer of knowledge, skills, and tools from one student to another, particularly across disciplines, is significant and the value cannot be overstated.

Functional knowledge of related disciplines is increasingly important for success in finding employment after graduation and in the workforce.

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Wormsloe’s natural and cultural resources provide unparalleled opportunities to implement research initiatives with a focus on environmental history. Designing an education center for a site that supports experiential education and integrated research is not a simple task. Fortunately, the design of the Education Center has involved many committed professionals with considerable expertise. Leo Alvarez, Design Principal and Chad Stacy, Senior Project Designer, both with Perkins+Will are certified architects as well as landscape architects with decades of experience, developed the architectural plans for the Education Center. Significant contributions and expertise are ongoing from CED faculty including: Dean Dan Nadenicek, Brad Davis, Jon Calabria, Alfie Vick, Umit Yilmaz, David Spooner, and Doug Pardue.

Sarah Ross, Executive Director of CREW, interviewed more than a dozen directors of comparable biological research stations around the country and a number of researchers working in the University System of Georgia for their knowledge and experience regarding optimal facility layout, lab requirements, and teaching necessities.

Interviews were evaluated to determine key research stations most similar to CREW. Ross toured numerous research sites gaining additional expertise, including: Archbold Biological Station in Venus FL, the UGA campus in Tifton (an Office of University Architects representative also toured these two sites); Harvard Forest and Woods Hole, MA; the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab in Colorado; the Smithsonian Southwestern Research Station in Arizona; the “Living Building” at the Omega Institute in New York state; Wrigley Marine Science Center in California; the NOAA Coastal Services Center and the Baruch Marine Field Station in South Carolina; the Joseph W. Jones Ecological Research Center, Albany, GA; and the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Oregon.

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WORMSLOE FELLOWS AT UGA

Challenges of Current Facilities

Proposed Multi-purpose Space The proposed center includes a classroom, a small conference center, a meeting room, and a dining facility.

CLASSROOM: A classroom space will make it possible for students to see, hear, and participate

A facility providing a multi-purpose classroom space, meal preparation, dining space, and a multi-disciplinary research lab is essential for the site to best support Research and Education functions.

in demonstrations, lectures, and presentations. Classes at CREW focus on experiential learning and hands-on activities. A classroom offers a venue for students to share individual findings as well as space to work in teams. Many disciplines, such as landscape architecture, environmental planning and design, historic preservation, environmental engineering, geospatial analysis, geographical mapmaking, assessment of historical documents, and fine arts require adequate table space. These and other classes on site need space to lay out and discuss two-and three-dimensional projects, as well as space for individual and team analyses and critiques. A dedicated classroom will provide adequate multi-media and other technological tools to enhance the learning environment and facilitate a range of communication options.

CONFERENCE AND MEETING SPACE: In addition to expanding ongoing classes on site, a multipurpose space will provide the option for small conferences of up to 85 participants. This opportunity will bring new knowledge to the coast of Georgia for students, faculty, scholars, and the general public.

Since 2009, CREW has hosted a bi-annual lecture series, with a focus on interdisciplinary research.

Speakers include nationally recognized experts from universities such as Harvard, Brown, Western Washington, Colorado, Florida, Clemson, and Emory, as well as other universities from across Georgia.

This robust dissemination of ideas and learning on the Georgia coast is in short supply and highly sought. To date, the lectures are held in a borrowed private venue and seating limits the events to 60 participants. These lectures attract more participants than can be seated, requiring most guests to stand for the entire event.

The two cabins recently constructed to provide lodging onsite offer 18 beds.

However, space to prepare meals is negligible and there is no option for classroom or lab space in the lodging areas. In addition to a lack of dedicated lab space, there is no space to temporarily set up equipment in the lodging cabins. Periodically, weather permitting, the back porches have been used as ad hoc labs. This presents a host of problems and severely limits the potential for lab activities. Currently, there is no place to lock or otherwise secure research equipment, such as microscopes, which means nothing of value can remain onsite. This presents additional issues with the constant demand for the transportation of expensive and often delicate research tools back and forth from Athens.

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CREW, often involving regional partners, hosts workshops and research conferences for targeted groups as well as the general public. Topics of past conferences and workshops include: coastal Georgia history (in partnership with the Georgia Historical Society), native plant gardening (in partnership with the State Botanical Garden), invasive species (in partnership with Georgia DNR), pollinators (in partnership with Coastal WildScapes), monarch butterflies (in partnership with Odum School of Ecology), forestry (in partnership with Warnell School of Forestry), controlled burning of longleaf pine woodlands (in partnership with Georgia Sea Grant), live oak cultivation (in partnership with Savannah Tree Foundation), coastal archaeology (in partnership with Archaeological Associates), landscape design (in partnership with College of Environment and Design), and landscape interpretation through fine arts (in partnership with Georgia Sea Grant and UGA Art Museum).

With an established facility at CREW, the number of events, range of topics presented, and number of participants will be significantly increased. These outreach events featuring dissemination of university research, in part, implements the mission of a land grant university.

REGIONAL DAY USE: CREW maintains strong relationships with Savannah State University, Armstrong State University, and Georgia Southern University. Faculty from each of these units have expressed interest in participating in the multi-disciplinary opportunities at CREW. Currently, day use onsite is only available on a weather-permitting basis (and therefore problematic for class scheduling). Day use of the classroom in the Education Center, however, dovetails perfectly with all other intended uses, increasing the value of the Education Center to the region and providing additional programming to regional units at practically no cost.

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OPERATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS:

opportunities that can best take place with

throughout their entire stay at CREW. Often,

Food Preparation and Efficient Dining Area

shared meals on site. A modest kitchen in the

conference centers are only fully utilized when a

Education Center will solve this daily problem

conference is taking place, a limited number of

and the waste of faculty and student time and

times each year. In this case, the bathrooms in

The lodging cabins were designed to be just that—sleeping space for students and faculty.

The efficiency kitchen allows occupants to make coffee and toast for breakfast and a sandwich for lunch. The single counter space in the cabins is a total of three square feet, barely enough room for a coffee maker and toaster.

Currently, groups studying and working at CREW must leave the site and find meals elsewhere.

Most groups find it necessary to leave CREW for each of the three daily meals. This reduces time that could be used for educational activities and increases the costs for students and the university and limits team-building

money. As a cost-cutting initiative, design of

the Education Center will be utilized practically

the classroom space allows the desks to be

every day.

turned into community dining tables creating a no additional space or cost dining area. This concept has been in operation at the Rocky Mountain Biological Lab for decades.

Adequate Facilities Needed

Parking Parking for the Education Center is already in place and located closer to the facility than similar arrangements found on campus in Athens. Parking for 175 cars is located within

A cost-saving decision mandated by the

a three-minute walk from the Education Center.

committee for construction management

In addition, CREW offers transportation via golf

of the two lodging cabins eliminated all but

cart from car parking areas to lodging cabins

one bathroom per cabin. This results in

and the Education Center for mobility issues,

nine, unrelated adults sharing one bathroom

handicap access, and other needs.

Siting & Floor Plans

Siting | Educational Research Center Experiential Learning Center & at floor the CenterPlans for Research + Education at Wormsloe The Wor m sloe Foundation

EVENTS PORCH EXISTING DRIVE

FUTURE RESEARCH CABINS (2) OPEN TO BELOW

EVENTS PORCH

CLASSROOM

CLASSROOM

EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH CENTER_

HISTORIC SLAVE CABIN

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM

OFFICE SUITE

OFFICE PORCH

REST ROOM

REST ROOM

REST ROOM

KITCHEN/ SERVICE UP

RESEARCH CABIN

DN

REST ROOM

MUDROOM

MECH.

KITCHEN MULTI-USE LABORATORY

North | 1/16” = 1’-0”

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First Floor Area: 2,333 SF Total Building Area: 3,951 SF

Second Floor Area: 1,618 SF

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”

Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”

Wormsloe Institute for Environmental History

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RESEARCH CABIN

Research at CREW

Humanity depends upon the environment.

Natural ecosystems provide services that human beings and society need and that have great economic value, from purifying water to pollinating crops to regulating climate.

“With a functioning and efficient Research and Education center at Wormlsoe, the tradition of exploration and learning continues.

This center will also support the purpose of Georgia’s land-grant institution, which is to increase the body of knowledge about our world and serve the citizens of Georgia.

As we know, knowledge does not have boundaries; Wormsloe and the Center for Research and Education will enhance the understanding of the world far beyond our borders.”

Through a combination of historical, cultural, and ecological approaches this relationship of disciplines investigates the link between critical social transitions and ecological responses. This emergent paradigm supports the application of historical insights to conservation in a temporal and spatial context. Archaeologists, historians, ecologists, and other researchers collaborating on a single site provide a robust synthesis where the whole is truly greater than the sum of the parts.

As scientists pursue increasingly complex questions, it becomes more important that they work in teams that include a diversity of skill sets and discipline expertise. The American Association for the Advancement of Science emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary communication; of emerging technologies from the molecular to the geospatial; and of large, complex datasets and the computational skills it takes to manage them.

— SARAH ROSS, DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND EDUCATION AT WORMSLOE

Near-term as well as long-term planning for research and education at CREW operates with the guidance of a science advisory council and follows benchmarks identified by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The National Academy of Science.

Although the research at CREW is conducted with a site-specific focus, each project is designed to produce data with regional or national usefulness. Members of the Wormsloe Science Advisory Council (WSAC) represent broad areas of research, policy and strategic planning, and science education. (The WSAC guides the development of longterm research objectives for CREW. The council provides expertise in areas of ecology, forestry, archaeology, history, coastal policy, spatial analysis, wildlife management, and science education.)

FOUR BROAD AND OVERLAPPING AREAS OF STUDY HAVE BEEN ADOPTED BY THE WSAC: 1. Biodiversity, consequences of biological invasions, and ecosystem function 2. Land use dynamics and disease ecology of migrating wildlife 3. Climate-related processes and consequences 4. Water resources: fresh and brackish, surface and subsurface A shared lab space is necessary for the interdisciplinary involvement of researchers and students. Although a single, shared lab is the most cost effective decision, a shared space will enhance the ongoing synergy among disciplines, as well as students and faculty.

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The W Character Perspective

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View from future Research Cabins (facing Southwest)

OUR GOAL IS $1.5 MILLION

A NOTE FROM CRAIG BARROW, III When my wife Diana and I moved to Wormsloe in the winter of 1986, we quickly realized that this was not going to be your typical home. As the ninth generation and a direct descendant of the founding settler, Noble Jones, my family and I inherited a huge responsibility of stewardship for this 1200-acre plantation. The crux of this stewardship is to ensure that Wormsloe will be preserved for future generations and to share this natural and cultural resource with the citizens of Georgia and other visitors to the Savannah region.

Environmental History. We began discussions with the University of Georgia about the possibility of creating a campus that could host students and scholars. In December 2012 a memorandum of understanding between the Wormsloe Foundation, Inc. and the University of Georgia was signed and the Wormsloe Foundation deeded 15.5 acres to the University with full support of the Board of Regents. The University of Georgia’s Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe was launched.

We believe that now there is a unique and powerful partnership among the Craig Barrow family, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Wormsloe Foundation and Institute, and the University of Georgia.

We are confident this partnership will ensure the In 2010 The trustees of the Wormsloe protection of this significant historic site and that it Foundation, Inc. elected Sarah Ross will continue to evolve as an exceptional asset for the as president and subsequently citizens of our great state. created The Wormsloe Institute of

Please support the next generation of inspired learning at Wormsloe by donating to the Center for Research and Education at Wormsloe:

DONATIONS MAY BE SENT TO: The Wormsloe Foundation, Inc. 22 W. Bryant St. P.O. Box 300 Savannah, Ga. 31401-2604