Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

My daughter spent a very busy week at the Smithsonian Mason school. She took the CONS 100 class. She absolutely lived it. Teacher were great, she learned A lot and made new friends with common interests. Highly recommend.

Came to my school and talk about biology and I was happy im in to stuff like that but I do want to know bc im in middle school 7th grade and want to volunteer thare b I love animals and a thanks to scbi for spreading the word bc I want to work thare when I grow up

It's a nice setting in western Virginia, with rolling hills and nice views of the surrounding area. There is lots of history here that the people will be happy to talk about.

Appalachian Trail goes through the property. Research programs on coservation biological issues. Wolves, bison, birds, etc.

Take a rest for to learn and thinking about the biodiversity projects!!

Open to the public only once a year for a fee (2012-30 dollars a vehicle first 6 people-additional people extra fee). The property is beautiful and quite large. From the hilltops you get an amazing view. It was fun to see two red pandas on special exhibit munching on bamboo. There were many tables set up to educate folks about a myriad of topics related to the institute's work. Another neat thing was seeing the cranes who seemed to enjoy looking at people just as much as we enjoyed them. A visit to the bird house was informative, especially about the plight of birds in Guam due to predation by introduced snakes. I would have given the visit 5 stars except for the lack of transport for handicapped individuals. They had school buses but in order to take them you had to first walk up a hill. Also, many volunteers were very unknowledgeable about the place and couldn't answer simple questions. Perhaps, an orientation for them would have helped. One volunteer directed us to the panda's normal enclosure way on the other side of the property when they had been moved to another display area for the visitors. The regular staff that were onsite were very helpful and I felt privileged to have the opportunity to hear about the animals from them.