Fran Bires has spent 20 years working at McKeever Environmental Learning Center and he still finds his work environment fresh and interesting.

After all, he works in more than 200 acres of woods.

"There's a something about this place -- even going back to the first director -- Dick Touvell, who often referred to the 'McKeever magic' -- that intangible thing that makes people want to come back," said Bires, who has served as director for more than eight years.

That same magic is what brings almost 5,000 students to the center year after year. "I would say that the last five years we have been averaging at least 65 to 70 schools each year," Bires said, referring to all the area schools that come for field trips at the center.

"Obviously during the school year we serve schools, and those programs are as short as a one-day, four- to five-hour program, up to a five-day overnight residential experience," Bires said, adding that the day programs go from kindergarten through eighth grade.

"We have a Love of Life program which is a two-day, one-night program for third-graders, but by far our most popular program is Earth Keepers, which is a three-day and two-night for 4th and 5th grade students," he said. "Each program is age appropriate in terms of activities and the content level. Monday through Friday there are kids on site at McKeever except for those times we're training student teachers."

Training student teachers is another object of the learning center. "Most of our student teachers are elementary education majors. This will be their last step toward their college degree," Bires said, adding that they have students from Thiel College, Clarion University, Slippery Rock University, Penn State, Mercyhurst and Edinboro, among others.

Another goal McKeever works on is educating full-fledged teachers. "We provide in-service opportunities for teachers -- public or private -- to learn about environmental education and the resources available and additional things they can do in a classroom," Bires said. The themes of some of the teacher workshops include tree identification, birding, amphibians and reptiles.

During the summers and weekends when students aren't at the learning center, McKeever offers much for the community at large as well. "We try making it available for people to use. We've seen many groups come and do their own program at McKeever," Bires said, adding that a large percentage are church groups using the buildings and grounds for church retreats and youth retreats, as well as 4-H clubs, Rotary and colleges.

"Even PennDOT comes here to use one of our rooms for their meetings," Bires added.

A couple of upcoming events include a fly fishing clinic May 16-17 and a nature art show May 30-June 1.

"We do public programs on a variety of topics," he said. "We had a black bear program and we do a program on edible mushrooms a couple times of year. Last year we had a really neat program on fireflies. It was an evening program on how to identify fireflies, the different species that are there. There are definitely a few different species of fireflies in Pennsylvania," Bires said.

The fly fishing clinic will be taught by Joe Humphreys, who is known nationwide, according to Bires. "He still holds the record for the largest trout caught with a fly rod in the state," he said. The brown trout was 34-inches long and weighed 16 pounds. "It was absolutely huge. Joe is legendary."

The fly fishing clinic costs $125 and includes meals and lodging.

The art show is a first for McKeever with three area artists displaying their artwork gallery-style at McKeever. "We're going to place each artist in a separate room in one building. Inside that room, they'll be able to set it up as a gallery," Bires said.

The artists are Jim Bortz of Stoneboro, with paintings of nature; Robert Isenberg, resident potter at the Pottery Dome in the Leesburg area; and Dr. Gil Twiest of Clarion who is known for his photographs of wildlife, especially birds.

"We want to keep it a nature thing. We have that as the medium because we're an outdoor facility. It's a way of getting people in touch with the natural world through these forms of artwork," Bires said, adding that classical guitarist Julie Harris will play on the evening of May 30.

"The things we do here at McKeever, that is how we follow our mission statement. Basic education about the environment is one of the primary goals of why we are here," Bires said. "I think that people can go away with a feeling that they could pull a way from their busy lives. It's an experience here that sends people away with a good feeling about their time spent at McKeever."

For more information, call (724) 376-1000 or check out www. mckeever.org