Connecting people to nature and each other at Shaver’s Creek

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Inside the Klingsberg Aviary at Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center, laminated signs hang on the enclosure of Stellar, a Northern Goshawk. The signs are a notice to visitors: Stellar is new to the center and learning new things every day. To help him feel comfortable, visitors should approach him mindfully. 

But the signage isn’t permanent. According to Wildlife Program Director Paige Sutherland, Stellar will go through training and programming designed to make him an ambassador for his species, which will include spending time around humans. 

“We work really hard to have strong relationships with these animals, to prepare them for their impactful work,” Sutherland said. “We want them to present their best selves to people, and we see that as our job and our responsibility to set them up for that through behavioral training, behavioral management, and environmental management.” 

It’s work Sutherland is very familiar with — she’s been teaching the birds and other animals at Shaver’s Creek how to be on their best behavior for about two years. The birds she works with aren’t able to live in the wild, either because they were born and raised under human care or because of physical limitations, but the environmental center aims to give them fulfilling, happy lives. 

“Watching the birds grow up with us is really special,” Sutherland said. “Like Jane the Sandhill Crane, one of our newer animal ambassadors, just moved into a new enclosure with stairs right outside, and she needed to learn to navigate them. To see her trusting the process and working with us through it was really sweet.” 

Sutherland and two other staff members at the center maintain the aviary and the herpetarium, which houses reptiles and amphibians. But there’s more to conservation than one-on-one sessions with animals; in addition to wildlife care, Sutherland also crafts programming that educates the public. 

“Our mission is to connect people to people, and people to nature. We have a chance to preserve not just biological diversity, but cultural diversity,” Sutherland said. “We want to be everybody's nature center. We want everyone to feel welcome, to come here, to learn and to grow, and to reflect and participate.” 

Before she came to Penn State, Sutherland worked at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, D.C. The environmental center has served as the perfect place for her to continue her work of promoting conservation and connection. It helps that the center is a field research lab under the University, Sutherland said. 

“We’re able to act as an ongoing research project. We can experiment and try new things, push the fold if we want to,” Sutherland said. 

Research initiatives allow the center to study how families who visit interact with outdoor spaces, tactics for integrating technology, plant science and more. 

In addition, Sutherland and center staffers can make an impact in the region. Programming is focused on the local environment and wildlife native to Pennsylvania, she said, and programs like outdoor school camps, Penn State class visits, and other partnerships help to make a difference by showing visitors what the world looks like around them. 

“Conservation is at the heart of a healthy and thriving humanity. We know that everything within our world, living or not, is interconnected,” Sutherland said. “It makes people feel like they're united to the same mission, the same outcome. And conservation can be individualized to them as a person, to their institution, to their region or nation.” 

Beyond community outreach, Sutherland and her team also operates an educational program for emerging professionals interested in wildlife care and conservation. College students can apply to participate in the Career Development Program, where they’ll receive an individualized learning experience focused on caring for wildlife. 

Participants can use the experience for independent study course credits, all while getting hands-on work experience that prepares them for the workforce.  

“It's a pretty intimate experience. They get to do all the hands-on work with us, and we guide them through not just the skills, but the comprehensive knowledge it takes to do a job like ours,” Sutherland said. “We prepare them to be workforce ready, so that soon as they graduate, they can go straight out to the field to get paid work.” 

For Brooke Phillips, a third-year student studying wildlife and fisheries science at Penn State, working at Shaver’s Creek have been invaluable. She’s been with the center for three semesters now and, this summer, will be taking what she’s learned to work with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Scales and Tales program, which offers chances for people to get up close to wildlife and learn about native birds and reptiles. 

“It's just been a remarkable time. It is so hands-on and immersive,” Phillips said. “Every single day, I get the opportunity to engage directly with the wildlife, applying what I’ve learned and discovering how it impacts the animals.” 

Sutherland has led Phillips through a lot of that work, Phillips said, and has taken the time to explain everything she might need to know as she continues her journey into wildlife science. 

“I’ve gotten to watch a lot of Paige’s training sessions with multiple animals, and I've learned so much. As she works with the animals, she'll explain every step to what she's doing and why, and it really helps me understand and be able to build upon my own knowledge,” Phillips said. 

Beyond that, it’s clear that Sutherland and the staff at Shaver’s Creek care about the well-being of both the animals and the students they teach, Phillips said. 

“I like to ask a lot of questions, and Paige really takes the time to sit down and answer them, to get to the root of the idea,” Phillips said. “She has always been there for me, and she really, really cares about us.” 

Helping students find their calling is special, Sutherland said, and it’s something she values about her current position. Whether the students in the program know what they want to do with their careers or are still figuring it out, she loves being a part of the journey. 

“The whole collegiate experience is about finding your place in the University and in the world, and to find your personal calling and connection. To see a piece of that happen is really special,” Sutherland said. 

Her hope is that those students can then carry on the mission of Shaver’s Creek, she said, bringing everything they’ve learned with them wherever they go next. If that happens to be wildlife and conservation work, those students can help to shape and grow the field beyond where it stands now – in part because of the foundation Sutherland is working to build. 

“The further we can take them in their undergraduate experience, the further they can go once they fledge the nest,” Sutherland said. “That helps the whole wildlife community and industry to elevate itself, and it helps to create a good community around here. too.”