Netzaberg Youth Center hosts geology exhibit

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany - Rocks, plus a large variety of other geological and paleontological finds, rolled into U.S. Army Garrison Grafenwoehr's Netzaberg Youth Center, Sept. 10, thanks to a generous contribution from several donors.

The donation, which was gathered mostly from Germany's Oberpfalz (Upper Palatinate) region, includes pieces that range in age from the last century to a few that are tens of millions years to several 100 million years. The combined donation will be inventoried and catalogued before it goes on display at the Netzaberg Youth Center for some exciting hands-on projects.

"The program is expected to start within the schools and CDCs, where the children are already in learning mode, and then, as their interest grows there will be more hands-on projects like going out into the field for rock collecting and studying," said Anita Payne-Landgraf, chief of Child, Youth and School Services at USAG Grafenwoehr. She said the exhibit is expected to remain at Netzaburg for two years.

The CDCs and school-age programs are currently incorporating the dinosaur/fossil theme into all areas of the preschool curriculum including art, music, drama, blocks and manipulatives, outdoor activities, language, science and math.

"Young children learn best through hands-on activities," said Payne-Landgraf, "so in addition to visiting the exhibit, they'll experience making their own fossils, digging for dinosaur bones in sand, hearing and acting out stories about the Ice Age and lots of other creative activities."

The exhibit was made possible by several donors, especially Helmut Zapf and Dieter Freitag.

Zapf, a retired geologist who worked for the Regional Government of Upper Franconia, was a key benefactor of the exhibit. He is credited with having found a 2,000-year-old Celtic fossil in Netzaberg during excavation for the current housing development.

Freitag, a graduate of the University of Erlangen, is a Geological Survey Support coordinator at the Grafenwoehr Training Area, and works at the GeoArchive in northeast Bavaria.

As a self-professed "rock nut," Freitag said he spends more time looking at rocks and strata than he spends talking to people, but that doesn't stop him from talking when given the opportunity to discuss geology.

"I wanted to reintroduce science to kids here and get them interested in rocks. Right now is the time to get them interested and excited about geology. There is a huge world of knowledge for them to discover out there in their own backyard," Freitag said.

Freitag said Grafenwoehr and Upper Franconia are a geologist's heaven. The area used to be a tropical zone and contains a wealth of fossils. He said remains have even been found from the Bohemian Mountains, which are about 400 meters high.

In addition to being rich in lead and silver, Freitag said Bavaria also has the largest deposit of iron ore in Germany Aca,!aEURc nearly 300 million tonsA,A Aca,!aEURc but it remains unused because of the exorbitant cost to extract it.

Students won't be the only ones to benefit from the exhibit.

"This program won't end here or with the schools," said Audre Binder, director of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation. "CYSS and FMWR as a whole are involved. It is a community partnership between the youth center, the schools, the library, and, of course, Dieter Freitag."

"Our goal is to get the children excited about geology through the hands on teaching lab, then get them involved physically in the field," said Binder. "Through Outdoor Recreation, we can facilitate field trips for the students to museum sites and geo-cache sites and as interest grows we hope to offer family trips of the same nature."

In addition to getting children and the community interested in geology, the exhibit's planners hope it will have a greater overall impact.

"We are still trying to figure how to introduce this project to the kids so they can be involved on their own," said Eric Bergmanis, a geology professor at Grafenwoehr's University of Maryland University College, Bergmanis assisted with determining the substance of the display. "Bavaria has a host of museum sites for people to visit and study and we hope that this exhibit will help spark an interest in these kids for the science of geology."

Though the exhibit is not on full display yet, cases are being built to house the fossils and before that's completed the hands-on projects will already be in full swing. In addition to the exhibit donation, Zapf, Freitag, Bergmanis and other volunteers are working with the youth center and FMWR to share this treasure with students of all ages.

Two additional contributors, Michael Mumford, currently working for Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command Life Cycle Management Command, in Chicago; and Walter Diener, a member of the Naturwissenschafliche Gesellschaft Bayreuth (Natural Sciences Society of Bayreuth), could not attend the event.