The Environmental Journal of Southern Appalachia

Displaying items by tag: cindy hassil

ijams2The live animal shows and educational lectures were a big draw during the annual Ijams Nature Center Hummingbird Festival held Aug. 17 at the center in Knoxville.  Photos by John White/phocasso for Hellbender Press
 

Annual Hummingbird Festival showcases Appalachia’s airborne denizens

KNOXVILLE Jane Willard loves it when people put a name to the face of a butterfly. Or a bird. Or a bat.
She and Sarah Parker were crewing a booth of natural relics on Aug. 19 at the 2024 Hummingbird Festival at Ijams Nature Center, an annual celebration of all winged things.
Their display of items from the Ijams collection ranged from fierce and sharp owl talons to carefully curated moth and butterfly collections and a somewhat forlorn version of a long-gone little brown bat rendered relatively immortal by a long-gone taxidermist.
Passersby, their interests piqued, stopped and chatted in the humid late-summer morning. Some recognized butterflies and moths that had formerly forever remained nameless in their minds. Connections were made.
“People love stopping by,” and getting hands-on with native flora and fauna, said Willard, an AmeriCorps member who typically works on urban water quality issues with the Water Quality Forum.
 
ijams4Children learn about the four seasons during one of many immersive educational activities available during the Aug. 17 Hummingbird Festival at Ijams Nature Center.
Published in News

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KNOXVILLE — Volunteer registration is open for the 34th Ijams River Rescue on Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. A severe weather date is set for Saturday, April 22.

Ijams Nature Center’s annual event removes tons of trash and tires from sites along the Tennessee River and its creek tributaries. Sites are typically located in Knox, Anderson, Blount and Loudon counties.

“During this cleanup, between 500-1,000 volunteers come together to make a tangible, positive difference in their community,” Ijams Development Director Cindy Hassil said. “It’s eye-opening to participate because you really get to see what ends up in our waterways. Hopefully it makes people more aware of how they dispose of trash and recyclables, and inspires them to look for ways to reduce the amount of waste they create.”

There are cleanup sites on land, along the shoreline (boots/waders recommended) and on the water (personal kayaks/canoes required).

Published in Water

ijams kid playscapeA child defends an elaborate stick fort at Ijams Natural Playscape, which opened this week at the South Knoxville nature center.  Ijams Nature Center

New Ijams playground reconnects kids with neighborhood woods, forts and creeks of yore

KNOXVILLE — Ijams Nature Center officially opened a portal into pure childhood beast mode this week.

The Ijams Nature Playscape at Grayson Subaru Preserve is specifically designed for young children to play in a creek, climb hills, dig, build, crawl and engage with nature in an organic, unstructured way. The new space features a large nest, tunnels, log steps and different rooms to play in.

“For generations, many of us had the opportunity to roam and play in the woods, empty lots and fields that surrounded our homes and neighborhoods,” Ijams Executive Director Amber Parker said. “We remember the freedom we had to use our imagination, test ourselves and become a part of the natural landscape, at least until we were called home for dinner.”

Published in Earth

Ijams Girls 1923 Martha Elizabeth Mary JosephineMartha, Elizabeth, Mary, and Josephine Ijams (from left) are seen in this 1923 photo. The girls were active in scouting and became accomplished naturalists early in life. Ijams Nature Center

Help give thanks across history to founders of the South Knoxville nature center and celebrate the addition of 3 acres

Cindy Hassil is a writer for Ijams Nature Center.

KNOXVILLE When H.P. and Alice Ijams purchased 20 acres of land along the Tennessee River in 1910, they couldn’t have known their family would still be contributing to the legacy that would become the 318-acre nonprofit Ijams Nature Center more than a century later. 

Ijams Nature Center will celebrate the contributions of the Ijams family and dedicate three acres of land recently donated to the nature center by H.P. and Alice’s granddaughter, Martha Kern, at 10 a.m. Thursday, April 28. The public is invited. 

Published in News

Sweep netting for insectsMembers of a Covid-era outdoor education class at Ijams Nature Center net insects. The South Knoxville nature center weathered the Covid-19 pandemic with donations, federal loan guarantees and common-sense maneuvering, like moving all educational programming outside.  Photos courtesy Ijams Nature Center.

Ijams posted record visitation during pandemic even as resources were challenged

(This is the second in an occasional Hellbender Press series about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the natural world. Here's the first installment about air quality improvements in the Smokies.)

Individuals and organizations can learn a lot from a pandemic.

You up your technology game. You innovate and run harder and get leaner. You realize the importance of face time (the real face time). 

You learn the power of allies and those who really love you.

And in the case of Ijams Nature Center in South Knoxville, you learn just how much people need and value the natural world and the outdoors, especially in times of acute stress and uncertainty.

Ijams played host to a record number of visitors in 2020; there was no usual winter slowdown. Parking lots were full virtually every day during the height of the pandemic that claimed the lives of at least 600,000 people in the U.S. That visitation trend has continued at Ijams, with the coronavirus somewhat comfortably in the rear-view mirror.

An estimated 160,000 people visit the popular nature center annually, but there’s no exact count. Officials said the 2020 visitation substantially surpassed that number, and they plan a visitation study because a very porous border prevents an accurate count.

“The one great thing that has come out of Covid, is that people have recognized the importance of nature in their lives; they’ve recognized it as a place for solace, a place to get out and be safe and feel comfortable,” said Ijams Nature Center Executive Director Amber Parker

“The sheer mass number of people coming were new to Ijams, or maybe come once or twice coming multiple times a week,” said Ijams Development Director Cindy Hassil.

“We were so excited to be this refuge for everyone,” Parker added.

The two women spoke on a sunny spring afternoon on the fetching expanse of stone terrace behind the visitors center in the shade of tulip poplars, red buds and dogwoods. Cardinals chirped and early 17-year cicadas throbbed behind a natural green curtain.

Published in STEAM