The Wilderness Center, located off U.S. 250 in Wilmot, will host a Moths of the Night event on Saturday, Aug. 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event will feature three different speakers/presenters.
Danae Wolfe will present a talk titled “Night vision: Finding awe, beauty and purpose in the dark.” Wolfe is an award-winning photographer and TEDx
speaker. Wolfe’s photographs invite viewers to stop and see moths in a
different light, helping those who see her work to appreciate the roles moths
play in the ecosystem.
Lucy
Guarnieri will present “Moth conservation in urban landscapes: Challenges and
opportunities.” Guarnieri is a researcher whose work focuses on how different
types of insects use urban habitats and how urban green space can be managed to
provide the greatest benefits for humans and wildlife.
Chelsea
Gottfried will talk about “Mysterious Moths,” which will help listeners
understand a moth’s role as a pollinator, a job that is essential to the survival
of many plants, and how moths and their caterpillars are important food for
birds, bats and countless other animals.
Gottfried has a passion for native
plant gardening — she is currently converting her 3-acre lawn to a
pollinator prairie — and for nature macrophotography. Her first book, “Gardening
for Moths: A Regional Guide,” which she co-authored with Jim McCormac, was
released in February 2023 and features many of her photos. Gottfried serves as
president of the Ohio Odonata Society.
Along
with the speakers, other activities are planned for the event.
“There
will be moth-themed crafts and treats (while supplies last), and there is a BYO
picnic lunch,” said Michelle Leighty, environmental educational specialist at
TWC. “We hope picnickers will enjoy our newly renovated Lake View Shelter. There
will also be a short, guided hike by a TWC naturalist, and TWC’s Dark-Sky Lab
will be open to help participants learn more about what everyone can do to
improve human and nocturnal ecosystem health by taking easy actions against
light pollution.”
Register
for the free event by visiting www.wildernesscenter.org.
TWC has
several other events planned for the fall including Nature as
Inspiration, which will take place Sept. 13 as a collaboration between
Homestead Furniture and The Wilderness Center. In 2019 the Metropolitan Museum
of Art conducted a worldwide search for a company capable of designing
distinguished furniture based on famous works of art in its collection. Homestead
Furniture — specifically its luxury sister company, Abner Henry, and owner Ernie
Hershberger — was selected.
Hershberger and his team traveled to New York to
explore storehouses and artifacts that had not been seen by the general public
for decades. The team eventually selected seven works of art across genres and
geographies, ranging from Van Gogh to Seurat.
These inspired pieces were created after four years of
artistic and spiritual exploration. The collection was unveiled to a global
audience at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in April and has since returned to
Amish Country. The event will allow attendees to see these works up close while
also raising funds for The Wilderness Center.
Included in the ticket price will be food from Log Cabin Kitchen and Catering of Sugarcreek, live music from High
Country Bluegrass, and presentations by The Wilderness Center and local artisan
Hershberger. Tickets are available online at The Wilderness Center’s website.
This fall
will see the return of the popular event, The Enchanted Forest, which is a
lantern-guided forest walk that features guides dressed up in nonscary
costumes representing an animal of the forest. The event will be held Friday, Oct. 10 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and Saturday,
Oct. 11 from 4-8:30 p.m. Tickets are
$12 per person, and children under 2 are free.
