Concord Center For Field Study Opens in Spring

The Museum of Comparative Zoology is raising $500,000 for a 730-acre wildlife research center in Concord.

The research center and field station will be ready for use in the spring, enabling students to observe animal behavior and the effects of environment on living things in the field. And Harvard's main laboratories are only 35 minutes away by car.

The center will be used by students and teachers from Harvard and from other colleges and universities in the Boston area, including Tufts, Wellesley, and Boston University.

Harvard bought 700 acres of the Estabrook Woods in Concord from a group of private owners, and an 30-acre tract from the estate of the late Edward M. Pickman '08, located in nearby Bedford. This property, added to the neighboring 2000-acre National Fish and Wildlife Refuge of the Concord River, will serve as a nature lab for studying geology, the effect of plant-eating fauna on vegetation, and methods to control animal population.

Ernst Mayr, who is in charge of plans for the research center and director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, said that besides aiding pure research, the wildlife center could help to solve the practical problems of conservation and insect control.

Mayr added that the tract, which includes open fields, woods, and ponds, is an "ideal site" for such research. In addition, a wide variety of birds and over 27 species of mammals have been observed in the area.

A former Nike missile site on the Pickman estate will be renovated and used as a field laboratory and living quarters.