Vassar’s Learning Forest—A Place to Explore Freely
When Jennifer Rubbo, Director of Vassar’s Environmental Cooperative, takes students, school groups, and others on tours of the 525-acre Preserve at Vassar, she often finds herself telling them about things they should not do—“Don’t go off the trail” or “Don’t touch that plant.” For several years, Rubbo envisioned building a space on the Preserve “where I’d have to say ‘No’ as little as possible and allow people to freely explore the natural world around them.”
Behold The Learning Forest, a niche of the Preserve with a small wetland where frogs frolic, deer and raccoons visit, and a small stream flows. A short trail surrounded by trees and vegetation, as well as areas to rest, allows visitors of all ages to, in Rubbo’s words, “just play and learn in nature.” The new space was officially opened at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on October 13.
The Learning Forest, located just a few dozen yards from The Barn that houses many of the Environmental Cooperative’s activities, is a collaboration among Vassar alum Anne Codey ’65, who provided the funding for the project, Rubbo, Vassar students, and others who contributed ideas to the vision of this space. Codey said she first became acquainted with the activities of the Environmental Cooperative when her husband, John, a trustee of the Helmsley Charitable Trust, secured funding for the renovation of The Barn. After John died, Anne moved from her home on Long Island to the Hudson Valley in 2017 and learned more about the programs and activities at the Preserve. She and her daughter, Marissa Codey ’98, hatched some of the preliminary ideas for the Learning Forest, and working with Rubbo and the consulting firm, One Nature, they developed a plan.
At the ribbon cutting, Codey lauded the Facilities Operations staff and others at Vassar for supporting the project. “The place just keeps looking better and better,” she said. “Everyone at the College has been amazing. It’s been a true partnership.”
Professor of Biology Meg Ronsheim and Marianne Begemann, Dean of Strategic Planning and Academic Resources, both attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Many of my students have come to the Preserve and I take my classes here,” Ronsheim said, “but a lot of people at Vassar still don’t know much about this place. The Learning Forest is another asset for us. Nature is good for your mental and physical health. Nature relieves stress.”
Begemann said all of us have a lot to learn from the forest. “When we walk in nature, it teaches us about resiliency, about the power of diversity, and patience and collaboration,” she said just before Codey cut the ribbon, “So, thank you, Anne, for making this a reality.”
In recent weeks, children from local schools have made good use of the space, building forts and catching frogs during visits via the Environmental Cooperative’s Exploring Science Program. As visitor-friendly as the Learning Forest is now, it is by no means complete. “We have some other ideas,” Rubbo said. “We’re just getting started.”