SFI Deer Creek open house scheduled Sunday, April 22
A public open house will be held in Selma at Deer Creek Center for Field Research and Education -- locally known as “John Wayne’s ranch” -- on Sunday, April 22.
Open house events at the former Deer Creek Ranch will run from 2 to 6 p.m. The open house is the first public celebration for the nonprofit Deer Creek Center.
Its partners are the Southern Oregon University (SOU) Foundation, based in Ashland; and Siskiyou Field Institute (SFI), an Illinois Valley-based nonprofit specializing in providing field-based natural history courses.
“This is a great chance to see not only a beautiful piece of property that has notable cultural and ecological significance, but also to learn about the opportunities the property affords the public in terms of education and research,” said Donna Chickering, SFI development coordinator.
SFI is housed in the historic ranch house containing 6,000 square feet of space.
Among highlights of the day there will be a guided hike led by naturalist and professor Michael Parker of SOU at Ashland. There also will be tours of the historic ranch house and campus property, and presentations about the Deer Creek Center project and plans for site renovation and development.
Visitors also will be provided a glimpse into some of the research projects being conducted on the 850-acre property that is SOU’s official field station for research.
Anyone with personal knowledge about ranch history is invited to be interviewed as part of an oral history project by SOU researchers Jean Maxwell and Echo Fields.
Deer Creek Center for Field Research and Education is located at 1241 Illinois River Road. It’s approximately 1.5 miles west of the road’s intersection with Hwy. 199 at the Selma Post Office, across from Ray’s Food Place.
Those interested in attending the open house can phone SFI at 597- 8530 for the schedule.
