By Jeff Dennis
Nemours Plantation is located along the Combahee River at Highway 17, and the nearly 10,000-acre property helps to anchor wildlife research in the ACE Basin. It was 25 years ago when the late Eugene duPont III created the Nemours Wildlife Foundation to steward the wildlife species found in the Lowcountry.
On Saturday, October 23, the foundation dedicated its new state-of-the-art science laboratory, naming it for Dr. Ernie Wiggers who is retiring after 22 years at Nemours.
Nemours Wildlife Foundation has been hosting and sponsoring graduate students who are pursuing degrees in outdoor science. The students come to Nemours in order to conduct research projects and to gain real world research experience in the field. Typically at the end of a research project those students will go on to publish articles in scientific publications regarding their findings. Eventually, these students go on to full-time careers for all manner of employers, like the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and Clemson University.
With the completion of the new science building at Nemours, the future of wildlife research in the ACE Basin is bright. The $2 million dollar facility is 3,200-square feet, and is jam-packed with the equipment necessary to conduct complex research on site. Walking in through the front doors the laboratory includes office space, dissection tables, microscopes, digital monitors, sinks, and lots of cupboard space to store specialty items. Exiting the back of the science lab, one enters a secondary area that is set up for bringing in samples from the field.
“Students from across the country come here to put into practice what they have learned in their campus classrooms,” said Dr. Ernie Wiggers. “We have studied a multitude of upland and wetland habitats, and our discoveries have greatly increased our knowledge about their ecology and how to manage for them.”
Wiggers serves as the President and CEO of Nemours Wildlife Foundation. In addition to research, Nemours offers educational outreach about land stewardship to private landowners, and hosts collaborative meetings with organizations they partner with.
Past Nemours intern Heather Venter now resides in Florida and works as a Conservation Lands Manager, but she took time to attend the dedication on Saturday. “During my time at Nemours, Dr. Wiggers taught me how to be a better biologist,” said Venter. “He also gave me valuable lessons in the field, and simply put Dr. Wiggers is the best.”
