An historic property in the Poconos now has more access for students of all ages to study the environment.
"As the wall states, you, our donors and friends, are the flames that will be responsible for igniting education in somebody's hearts," said Craig Lukatch, president of Lacawac Sanctuary.
The sanctuary in Wayne County, on the shore of Lake Wallenpaupack, held a ribbon cutting Tuesday to celebrate its new William E. Chatlos Environmental Education Center. Lacawac is also an ecological field research station and nature preserve.
Lukatch stood in the center’s new great hall, beneath a cathedral ceiling. Doors open wide to a new porch which overlooks Heron Pond.
The home of the sanctuary’s founder, Arthur Watres, was renovated and an addition built to create the center.
A combination of local and state funds were used. The center’s namesake, Bill Chatlos, and Milton Roegner run a charitable foundation in Wayne County and made a donation. They both attended the event.
"People say 'you must be proud of these achievements,' and I say 'no Bill and I are thankful'," said Roegner, "we're thankful to have the opportunity to be able to help as much as we can.”
The front building was Arthur Watres’ home. It was built in the 1950s and acquired by the sanctuary in 2017. The newly constructed great hall is for field trips, summer camps, retreats, educational workshops and meetings; beneath it is a wet lab with microscopes and workstations for students of all ages.
"It's a beautiful space for them to use," said Lukatch.
Arthur Watres founded the sanctuary in the 1960s to preserve the land. His grandfather, Colonel Louis A. Watres, a Scranton businessman and former Lt. Governor, acquired the property in the early 1900s to construct a dam as part of a power project. Before that, it was owned by William Connell, another Scranton businessman, who built a summer estate there.
Arthur Watres helped identify Lacawac Lake as the southernmost, unpolluted glacial lake in the United States. The First Peoples gave the lake its name. It's still studied today.
The sanctuary has historic buildings and hiking trails. They also recently acquired two other properties in Wayne County.
For more details, visit https://www.lacawac.org/.
