Waynesburg University is on its way to rebuilding a forest.

In June 2016, the EQT Corporation gave a grant to Waynesburg University to construct a nature trail on campus, for the use of students as well as the community. Dr. Janet Paladino, associate professor of biology, has taken on the project with the help of students on campus.

“[It is] an opportunity to give back to the community and provide a place to study nature,” said Paladino.

Paladino hopes to provide a place where students can conduct research or simply reflect on the beauty of nature. The trail is not exclusive to science majors, but for any student to use. Paladino said that the trail can provide service hours to those wanting to volunteer, become a place to worship or simply be a hangout area. She hopes to see the students, as well as the community, take advantage of this opportunity when the trail becomes open to the public.

Paladino believes that because Waynesburg grew up out of the Industrial Revolution, the founders didn’t know the value of natural land and taking care of the land.

“What we are trying to do is trying to restore it to a natural hardwood forest,” said Paladino.

Paladino has been working alongside several students to restore the nature trail into a place where anyone can reflect in the quiet of nature.

Paladino has four nature trail interns, as well as 15 students that are acquiring their service hours working on the trail this semester. These students have been clearing the invasive plant species and replacing them with native plants. Their goal is to have the plants that make up the trail completely composed of native plant species.

Allison Lapinsky, a senior environmental science major, is one of the four interns that has been working to make the trail ready.

“I want to see it become more usable for the public, because Waynesburg doesn’t have a natural space,” said Lapinsky. “The natural trail is different than the parks, it’s more secluded and you are actually walking through that patch of forest.”

Paladino said that this will be an ongoing project, not something that’s going to be completed in two years, and she wants to see this project continue for years to come.

“It’s a project that needs to be sustained for a very long time until it is going to be fully restored,” said Paladino. “This provides an opportunity to restore a place [that was destroyed] to [a natural area to] enjoy nature.”

For the future, Paladino hopes to have different departments get involved with using the nature trail.

Wayne Rossiter, associate professor of biology, can see ways in which he can personally use the nature trail in his classes and labs.

“[I] can see teaching my forest portion of my ecology lab there, that would be very helpful,” said Rossiter.

When the trail is finished, Paladino hopes that it gets people thinking about how developing a relationship with nature is important and why creation care is a part of the Christian message.

“The end goal is to provide a sustainable project and a place of natural beauty for both the campus and the community,” said Paladino.

Paladino hopes that the trail will be open to the rest of the university and the community within the coming year.