North Museum and Franklin & Marshall College announce transition regarding the Millport Conservancy
(LANCASTER)—Franklin & Marshall College is transferring its role regarding oversight and support of the Millport Conservancy to the North Museum of Nature and Science. With a memorandum of understanding in place, additional legal proceedings are underway to formally install the North Museum into this role. Since 2008, F&M has played this role, formally referred to as the “institutional member” of the board of directors of Millport, an 85-acre conservation area for wetlands, native wildlife and plant species, recreation and education located in Warwick Township.
The Millport Conservancy is a nonprofit organization that was created in 1988 by Robert and Carolyn Wohlsen, who purchased the Millport Roller Mills, along with auxiliary structures and surrounding farmland, in 1969. An important component of Millport’s work is in providing nature and educational programming to school-aged children and the community. This coincides with the North Museum’s important work in the community through its STEM education programs in the museum, in schools, and through its expanded at home educational curriculum. In recent years, the North Museum and Millport have successfully collaborated on joint programs that have been highly successful, and this new agreement expands the connections between the two organizations, which will remain separate nonprofits. “The North Museum is well-suited to partner with Millport on significant educational programming regarding conservation and the environment for school-aged children, and F&M is pleased to have found a successor whose mission dovetails nicely with Millport’s,” said Alan Caniglia, PhD who has served as the Conservancy’s board chairman since 2016 and is also the Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at Franklin & Marshall College. “We look forward to providing a seamless transition.”
“Together, we—the North Museum and Millport—will provide a long-lasting legacy for the Wohlsen family,” said Lynn Wohlsen Myers, Executive Director of Millport Conservancy and the daughter of the Conservancy’s founding couple. “For generations to come, the Conservancy will continue to be a treasured resource of educational and recreational experiences for students and the public.”
“For many years, the North Museum has actively sought out a permanent outdoor classroom space to expand our conservation and environmental studies programming,” said Andrea Rush, North Museum CEO. “Having partnered together successfully for the last several years, we see this next step as a natural one, fortifying the missions of both organizations and accelerating our collective impact to the community.”
F & M students and professors annually visit Millport as part of their environmental, biological laboratory studies and archaeological fieldwork, and this will continue under the new arrangement, as well as visits by students from central Pennsylvania higher education facilities including Millersville University, Thaddeus Stevens College, Elizabethtown College and Lebanon Valley College. Pre-K through 12th grade students visit Millport for stream and terrestrial studies, including those from Warwick and Lancaster School Districts, Lancaster County Career & Technology Center, Linden Hall and many others.
Located at 737 East Millport Road, Lititz, the property’s trails, wetlands, ponds, riparian habitats, croplands, meadows and streams are open to the public.
Located on the F & M College campus, the North Museum of Nature and Science was founded in 1953 and is committed to its mission to enable knowledge of nature and science by inspiring individuals, engaging communities and connecting organizations.
