Live and learn Steuben research institute expands in bid to attract local visitors through art, books and conversation

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The gravel road leading to the top of Eagle Hill in Steuben meanders through stands of spruce and fir trees before arriving at a cluster of wood-shingled buildings that seem to blend in with the surrounding forest.

Almost everything about the Humboldt Field Research Institute is low-key and rustic, from the bare-bones classrooms that look and smell like summer camp to the military-surplus furniture that fills its living quarters.

Even the trail offering hikers views of Cadillac Mountain, lobster-filled bays and the open ocean is hard to find and subtly marked.

For nearly 20 years, science lovers from around the globe have come to this field research station hidden in coastal Maine to teach, to learn and to spend time with like-minded individuals.

Some are internationally known scientists, others professionals seeking additional training. But many are average folks with above-average interest in botany, bugs or dozens of others topics covered during the three- to 10-day seminars.

Historically, relatively few of the visitors to the Humboldt Field Research Institute have come from local communities. But the institute’s founder has a plan for turning this place in the “boonies” into a year-round, retreat-style destination for local residents seeking academic enlightenment, stimulating conversation or simply a peaceful spot to read or admire art.

“It’s a place to go and immerse yourself in books and conversation,” Joerg-Henner Lotze said.

Standing inside the institute’s cozy dining facility and lounge, Lotze (whose name is pronounced “George Lots”) explains the schematic drawing of the expansion project under way just outside.

At present it’s just a large concrete basement surrounded by piles of dirt and idle equipment. When complete, the 10,000-square-foot building will feature a library and reading rooms, an art museum, new lecture halls and a restaurant that Lotze hopes will offer food and vistas rivaling some of the region’s best.

The institute’s blend of science, arts and stimulating conversation – three of Lotze’s personal passions – will help make the Humboldt a sort of gathering place where residents of Down East and central Maine can get away from everyday life for a few hours to meet others, challenge themselves intellectually and enjoy a “modestly fancy” meal before heading back home.

“Books and art and a view, good conversation and a cup of coffee or a glass of port wine – I think people will come,” Lotze said.

Located about five miles from downtown Steuben, the nonprofit Humboldt Field Research Institute sits near the top of Eagle Hill on one of the many fingers of land that jut into the Gulf of Maine.

On a recent morning, heavy trucks and other construction equipment could be heard in the distance making room for one of the new homes or subdivisions sprouting in the area. But for the most part, the area still bears little resemblance to the resort atmosphere of Bar Harbor and eastern Mount Desert Island, which are just a 15-mile crow’s flight away.

The institute’s classrooms, lodging cabins and other buildings are surrounded by roughly 150 acres of spruce, fir, birch, maple and other typical tenants of Maine’s boreal forests as well as ample wild blueberry and huckleberry brambles.

Several trails weave throughout the property. The institute’s unofficial mascot and people-greeter – a giant, white huskylike dog named Bonnie – inevitably employs her ancestral herding and sledding instincts to guide groups through the woods.

“Puppies lead the way,” Lotze said while Bonnie bounded down a trail.

Salt marshes, rocky coasts, lakes, rivers and plenty of other ecological habitats are all within a short distance of the institute, making for an ideal outdoor classroom.

That is part of what had drawn Norman Richards, a retired forestry professor from the State University of New York at Syracuse, back to Eagle Hill last week for a seventh year of teaching.

Richards only had to walk about 30 feet from his classroom to find a suitable mix of young and old fir trees to illustrate his points on tree survival in a competitive ecosystem. Kneeling on the mossy ground, Richards pointed to tiny firs, some several years old, that he said would lose the battle for precious light.

“It’s great to have the woods so close to the classroom” Richards said as his group made the 30-second transition from classroom instruction to field trip.

Several hours later, another group (Bonnie included) was thigh-deep in leafy plants as a curator for the New York Botanical Garden, Robbin Moran, explained one fern’s darker side. The bracken fern, Moran said, deters predation by producing cyanide, cancer-causing agents and other toxins.

(Ostrich ferns, the type gobbled up by fiddlehead-loving Mainers each spring, are nontoxic and “perfectly safe” to eat, he added.)

Moran’s class attracted fern lovers and gardeners from up and down the East Coast and even Taiwan who wanted to learn more about these common yet complex plants.

Valerie Storfer, a middle school art teacher in New York City and former botanical illustrator for the Museum of Natural History, said she met Moran while at Humboldt last year and decided to come back.

She also was thrilled to return to coastal Maine, where she spent part of her childhood while her father attended the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock.

Moran said the institute’s location makes it easy to spend part of the day in class and the rest in the field. “For me, it’s just a wonderful place to teach this course,” he said.

Seminar topics run the gamut from general field ecology to highly specialized subjects, such as a weeklong class titled “Slime Molds: Taxonomy and Ecology of Myxomycetes.” There are also entire seminars devoted to lichens, spiders, mussels, coastal Maine flora and landscape design.

Lotze, who runs the center with his mother, Ingrid, described most seminars as “gatherings of colleagues” where instructors take away almost as much as the students.

“Why do people come here year after year to teach? They come here because the audience is so challenging,” Lotze said. “They come here to teach but they learn an awful lot from the questions people ask.”

The institute also operates two respected academic journals – the Northeastern Naturalist and the Southeastern Naturalist – each of which publish research articles four times annually.

The Humboldt also offers periodic lectures – free to the public – often focusing on the intersection between arts, literature and culture with the natural sciences. The Lotzes hope to offer many more interdisciplinary seminars once the expansion is complete.

In an ideal world, the new building could be ready sometime next year, Lotze said. Meantime, Lotze was calling “alumni” and potential donors to help the institute acquire new pieces of artwork for its museum, which will feature art tied to the natural sciences.

Lotze said he also plans to continue talking with local residents to hear their ideas on what would draw more Mainers to spend a day at the institute’s library or museum.

“We are in the boonies. We are never going to have the blockbuster shows that you would find at larger museums,” he said. “But when you come here you will know there are some very, very fine paintings here that you can enjoy or study.”

Kevin Miller can be reached at 990-8250 and kmiller@bangordailynews.net.

History of Humboldt

The Humboldt Field Research Institute in Steuben is named for Alexander von Humboldt, a renowned natural scientist and explorer during the 19th century. Born in 1769, the German naturalist led one of the first scientific expeditions of Central and South America. His writings, research and findings would shape scientific study of the natural world and inspire other naturalists, including Charles Darwin. He was also a humanitarian who opposed slavery. He died in 1859.