The Integrated Program in the Environment oversees the Indiana University Research and Teaching Preserve. The mission of the Preserve is to provide natural field settings for research and teaching that complement existing facilities and infrastructure at Indiana University.
Providing natural field settings for research & teaching
Description of the video:
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we were looking around for places to set
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up some field experiments and a student
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of mine mentioned she'd been wandering
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around the golf course and there were
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some really nice areas that were not
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part of the golf course but were very
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rich in grasses and we set up some field
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experiments there at the same time
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purely by coincidence the university
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announced plans to build another golf
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course but because our research blocks
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were actually going to be exactly where
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a green or fairway was going to be
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located I sort of got sucked into it
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Keith clay was the one of the key
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faculty members who was leading the
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effort to pull together faculty from
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across campus to make a case to the
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administration that there was a better
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plan for the use of the lands that the
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university owned in the griffey
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watershed I contributed to the
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development of the idea with Keith and
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was a strong supporter of the proposal
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that came out to establish a research
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and teaching Preserve with that property
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since then it's expanded to what seven
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properties I think now totally more than
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sixteen hundred acres all of that as a
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consequence of Keith clays effort to
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expand the vision and continue to work
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with I you administration looking at
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properties that could be added to the
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preserve that would would expand its
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capabilities and serve the research
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research and teaching missions of the
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campus there's a lot of outreach
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activities so public schools Boy Scouts
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Girl Scouts religious groups senior
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citizen groups like the mini University
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at IU
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and the IPE is expanding to include
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academic programs majors classes one of
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the major new initiatives on the
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Bloomington campus was the creation of
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an integrated program for all things
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environment environmental science and
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sustainability education and research
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it's called the IPE or integrated
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program in the environment and so now
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the research and teaching preserve is
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part of this new entity on campus that
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reaches not only the research mission of
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it preserve but it expands into the
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teaching possibilities for the preserve
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as well this one is close to campus so
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it's easy for students it's easy for
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classes to get out here and gets the
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most use you're half a mile from the
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football stadium but it's a different
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world
Diverse natural habitats—including forests at various successional stages, old field, ridge and ravine topography, lakes, and a large perennial stream span the Preserve’s nearly 1,600 acres. The properties and 6,000 square-foot field lab are close to campus and available for research, teaching, and outreach activities.