Mike Weilbacher, a Merion Station resident, and author, has dedicated his life to finding creative ways to teach people about nature, writes the staff of Main Line Today.

And now all his experience has culminated in his first book, Wild Philly: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around Philadelphia.

Weilbacher is the executive director of the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Roxborough and is known as the “All-Natural Science Guy” on WXPN-FM’s Kid’s Corner.

In his book, he offers nature lovers 25 field trips to parks, preserves, and natural areas, all neatly organized by season. He even added illustrated maps.

To provide the most in-depth and enriching information, Weilbacher created an eight-member “Naturalist Advisory Team” to advise his research process.

He explained that the extra insight added rich layers to the book.

He said, “The chapter on the Lenape, for example, was based on new scholarship that shows that they actively managed the land. They were burning parts of the landscape to keep certain plants, like nut trees, around…”

The book also has a chapter on how people can become citizen scientists simply by using their cell phones to contribute data to ongoing scientific studies.

Read more about Mike Weilbacher and the many ways he celebrates nature around the Main Line in Main Line Today.

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