‘Plants Of The Oswego Harbor’ Scheduled

April 21, 2010 Contributor

OSWEGO, NY – The second lecture of the 2010 H. Lee White Marine Museum lecture series will be presented May 8 at 1:30 p.m. in the Pontiac Room at the museum.

The speaker is Dr. Andrew Nelson, and his topic will be “Plants of the Oswego Harbor.”

Dr. Andrew Nelson, retired SUNY Oswego biology professor and former director of Rice Creek Field Station, will speak at the H. Lee White Marine Museum on May 8.
Dr. Andrew Nelson, retired SUNY Oswego biology professor and former director of Rice Creek Field Station, will speak at the H. Lee White Marine Museum on May 8.

“This lecture will coincide with the unveiling of the museum’s new exhibit, Life on the Pier,” noted, Mercedes Niess, executive director of the museum. “Mr. Nelson has been researching interesting and unusual plants that are found on the west pier, which juts out into the Oswego Harbor. His research has been incorporated into the exhibit.”

This natural history presentation will discuss special urban seaport flora that have developed, consisting of plants that have been able to migrate from port to port but have had limited success in spreading to the surrounding city and countryside.

Sixty-three plant species were found growing on the west pier in the immediate vicinity of the H. Lee White Marine Museum during the summer of 2009.

This illustrated presentation will introduce the flora and detail the stories of some of its plant members.

Originally from Wolcott, Dr. Nelson has a BS (1958), and MS (1959) from the State University College of Forestry, Syracuse (now SUNY ESF), and a PhD (1962) from the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in plant taxonomy and ecology.

He taught biology at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Humboldt State College, Arcata, California, and SUNY Oswego.

He was director of Rice Creek Field Station, SUNY Oswego, from 1993 – 2008, retiring in August of that year.

He has a continuing interest in the flora of Upstate New York, particularly the Oswego region, the flora and ecology bogs, lakeshore dunes and barrier bars, with developing focus on wild growing plants of urban Oswego and the harbor.

The following week the museum, along with members of the Oswego Garden Club, will hold a plant sale, on May 15 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. or until the plants are gone.

The H. Lee White Marine Museum is located at the end of the pier in the Maritime District at the north end of West First Street in Oswego.

For more information about this program or other museum activities, call 315-342-0480 or email [email protected]

Also, visit www.hleewhitemarinemuseum.com missing or outdated ad config

Print this entry