1 minute read
Hidden Prep: The Cross Country Trail
HIDDEN PREP
The Cross Country Trail
BY DR. LYNN MILLER
Visual Arts Chair Art Teacher
Unless you have a connection to Prep’s Cross Country team, you may never have seen the trail that cuts through the woods at the north end of the school campus. The course begins at the practice fields and enters the woods behind the tennis courts, emerging again behind the storage barn close to the north end of the football field. The route takes runners through an ecosystem of longleaf pine and hardwood trees that is home to deer and turkey, as well as a number of bird species, reptiles, and plants. Cross country runners cross wooden bridges over small streams that wander through Prep’s campus before eventually finding their way into the Pearl River. Several years ago Prep’s woodworking classes built nesting boxes that were placed in the woods to support both resident and migrating birds.
Between Prep’s Cross Country Trail and the Pear River is the Fannye Cook Nature Preserve. Under the stewardship of Wildlife Mississippi, the preserve covers 2,700 acres of land from Jackson Prep along the Pearl almost to the reservoir spillway. Named for Fannye Cook, a pioneer conservation biologist and first director of the MS Natural Science Museum, the preserve is scheduled to include nature trails and recreational areas.
Discover this natural landscape that is part of Prep’s campus.
