Retiring Retirement

by Robert LaCosta

Retiring Retirement Nature nurtures

Glenmont’s BioReserve is a unique educational resource for area students

This article is the second in a series.

Glenmont’s BioReserve should be emulated by every town in the United States according to 76-year-old Dennis O’Leary, whose 68-acre parcel on the former Corning Estate is home to elaborate trails, an Old Forest, thousands of plant and wildlife species, a working laboratory and a 28-foot yurt – the circular Asian version of a teepee.

“Parks are good,” he says, “but communities need open areas like this.”

The BioReserve (thebioreserve.org) sits directly across the street from Cumberland Farms on Route 9W and Corning Hill Road and that is within a quarter mile of the City of Albany.

A microscopist by trade, O’Leary is used to the tiny. Yet he has a big vision for accessible bio reserves that can offer teachers a nearby resource and reach and instruct inner city children, homeschoolers and students of all kinds.

“When the kids come here,” he says, “their reactions can range from the ‘wow-effect’ for the urban children who are used to tall buildings to a sense of the familiar for home-schoolers who tend to come from rural settings.”

Students have access to macroscopes and microscopes in the lab where they can explore rocks, leaves, bugs and single-cell organisms while not missing out on basket weaving, tanning deer hides or simply staying overnight and looking at the stars.

Although there are no steep cliffs on the reserve, O’Leary has drawn from his vast experience in rock climbing to build a 43foot high tree-platform that allows visitors to repel, shed some fear of heights and prepare them for some of the aspects of rock climbing. (Read last month’s column to learn about O’Leary’s one-of-a-kind indoor rock gym.)

The BioReserve is on the verge of adding acres that include an Old Forest that has trees dating back further than the founding of Albany.

A quick peek into one of Albany County’s few yurts reveals ample space for living, cooking and sleeping while being economical to heat in a coldweather climate.

O’Leary’s knowledge of nature and biology is matched only by his creativity. In the same way he designed his indoor caves and rock climbing walls, he is engineering a complex series of trails that are actually similar to a giant labyrinth.

“Why have long and straight paths through a preserve, when you can bend and wind them to highlight the vast amounts of trees, shrubs and wildlife while getting you to slow down?” he asks rhetorically.

What gets O’Leary up in the morning are not just the responsibilities and daily chores of such a complex-but-simple vision. It’s a forward-thinking idea that these students will be the world’s future leaders and they will have a greater sense of how much life is dependent upon nature.

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