The University of Virginia’s Mountain Lake Biological Station near Pembroke in Southwest Virginia is hosting an open house July 13 from 2 to 4 p.m. The free event is open to the general public, neighbors, students, educators and anybody with an interest in the natural sciences and visual arts.

Activities will include tours of station facilities and laboratories, exhibits by researchers and artists, guided hikes highlighting the flora and fauna of Salt Pond Mountain on which the station is located, and old-time country music by The Jugbusters, a popular Blacksburg-based band.

The open house also will showcase ArtLab at Mountain Lake Biological Station, an innovative program that brings visual artists and scientists together for mutual inspiration.

Typically the research field station is open to the public only by appointment, so this open house offers a unique opportunity for local and regional residents to meet Mountain Lake Biological Station scientists and learn firsthand about station research and how it advances science and benefits the natural world.

Mountain Lake Biological Station, which is operated by U.Va.’s Department of Biology in the College of Arts & Sciences, is a diverse community of scientists, instructors, research interns, students and artists from around the world who conduct research, take field-based courses and create art.

The station is adjoined by the beautiful natural settings of Jefferson National Forest, the Mountain Lake Wilderness and the Mountain Lake Conservancy. Diverse habitats include mixed deciduous forests, mountain streams, rock outcrops, sphagnum bogs, red spruce stands, Canadian hemlock and white pine groves.

For information, contact Jaime Jones, station manager, at 540-626-7196 or jjones@virginia.edu.

To get there: From Blacksburg, take Route 460 past Newport and turn right onto Route 700. From Pearisburg, take Route 460 past Pembroke and turn left onto Route 613. Follow either road up the mountain toward the Mountain Lake Lodge, where the roads merge. Continue north-northeast for 1.6 miles. Pass through the hotel grounds and along the west shore of Mountain Lake. The road will turn to gravel. Continue following Route 613 until you reach a fork in the road. Take the right fork onto Salt Pond Road, following a small sign to “Biological Station.” Take the right fork at the station entrance, which is marked by a brown welcome sign. Park in the large gravel lot near the barn-like building.

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