National Park, WKU Students
Benefit From Research Projects
July 27, 2004
Bowling Green, Ky. - Research collaborations between Western Kentucky University and Mammoth Cave National Park are providing valuable assistance for park personnel and hands-on learning opportunities for students.
"We couldn't do what we do without partnerships with Western," said Bob Ward, park historian.
In the park's curatorial facility, WKU employee Terry Langford oversees a collection of artifacts and documents that include maps, drawings, lanterns, light bulbs, native American sandals, pottery and arrowheads.
Intern Katherine Sullivan, a folk studies graduate student, worked with Langford this summer as part of her assistantship. "I think I'm the luckiest person in the folk studies department," she said.
Western students in areas such as chemistry, biology, geography and geology, hydrology, ecology, biotechnology, education and archaeology are involved in numerous projects at the park such as cave research, cave artifacts, water and air quality, mussel and fish habitats, climatology, restoration of tall grass prairies and orchids, and habitats of mammals, amphibians and reptiles. (For more, visit www.wku.edu/mammoth.html)
The Mammoth Cave International Center for Science and Learning, which will be located on the north side of the Green River at the park's Maple Springs site, will allow students to be trained and mentored by prominent national and international scientists. The center's research director will have offices at the park and at WKU.
Dr. Blaine Ferrell, dean of Ogden College of Science and Engineering, said Mammoth Cave National Park has helped Western by hiring WKU students as interns, paying for graduate assistants and by getting undergraduate students involved in hands-on research.
"Some of our students have gotten permanent jobs with the National Park Service in natural resource management as a result. It's a great opportunity for students and faculty," he said.
Partnerships and collaborations should continue to grow, said Mark DePoy, chief of science at the national park."Mammoth Cave is probably the most studied cave in the world, but we have a lot more research questions that need answers," he said.
One of the significant projects under way is the effort to restore the American chestnut tree, which was nearly eliminated by a fungus in the 1930s. "We're hoping to bring the tree back to a functioning member of the ecosystem," DePoy said.
Western students and faculty are assisting park scientists and the state Division of Forestry in planting and monitoring seedlings from a surviving chestnut tree in Adair County.
At one time, one in four trees in certain areas of this region was an American chestnut and produced an abundant supply of nuts for wildlife and area residents, DePoy said. "The American chestnut is one of the most ecologically significant trees in the eastern United States," he said.
WKU President Gary Ransdell called the restoration project "a noble and marvelous resource opportunity" as chestnut trees growing in WKU greenhouses will be planted at the park, on the WKU campus, at the biological preserve and on WKU property in Warren County.
The applied research projects with Mammoth Cave National Park will help the University improve the quality of life for people in the region, Dr. Ransdell said.
"The cave and the national park and all of the natural resources therein give us a golden opportunity to engage our faculty in practical teaching and research, which is at the core of our mission," he said. "The opportunity to collaborate with the National Park Service and all that that entails will help us further inspire our own faculty and when opportunities exist, to recruit high quality scholars and researchers."
More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
