Public Service and Outreach
Faculty, staff, and students affiliated with the Georgia Museum of Natural History play an
important role in public service and outreach in Georgia.
The Museum links collections and the research done with the collections to the needs of the
state and the natural history curiosity of its citizens. Public service and outreach programs
associated with the Georgia Museum of Natural History have two primary goals: to be a source of
technical information for federal, state, and local agencies as well as private firms involved
in managing the state's natural resources and to provide natural history education to the general
public. The role of the Georgia Museum in the management and preservation of our natural
heritage is vital.
The collections
affiliated with the Museum are inventories of the cultural, biological, and
geological heritage of the southeastern United States, one of the most diverse temperate regions
in the world. Many of the collections contain unique historical records of locations and species
that are now destroyed, extinct, endangered, or rare. These museum specimens are the only
permanent existing record of much of our cultural and natural landscape. As more areas are
developed, these specimens provide a picture of what once was and is no more.
The personnel
affiliated with the Museum are often the only ones in the state who can provide
accurate inventories and identifications of materials for managers, scientists, and members of
the public. Using the specimens and the information associated with them to conduct applied
research and provide technical service is an important activity. Each year the Museum's staff
respond to thousands of requests for loans, surveys, general information, identifications, and
inventories. Most of these originate within Georgia from agencies such as U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, U.S. Geological Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, U.S. Forestry Service, the Cooperative Extension Service, Georgia Department of Natural
Resources, the Georgia Forestry Commission, and Georgia Department of Transportation as well as
from private organizations and members of the general public.
An equally important role for the Museum is to provide education to the public in natural
history. By stimulating public interest, support, and understanding of natural history through
traveling exhibits,
special events,
tours,
Science Boxes,
workshops, web sites, and other outreach programs, the Museum contributes to a greater
appreciation for our State's environment and to the importance of preserving it for future
generations. The goal is to answer the public's questions about the natural world around them.
The GMNH Education and Outreach Program is dedicated to inspiring stewardship of the natural
world by assisting the citizens of Georgia to develop and extend their awareness, appreciation,
and understanding of our state and regional natural history, the global interrelationships of
all natural systems, and the interactions of humans with these systems.
The Museum provides a variety of educational outreach programs to the local community including: