Speaker: Heather Merbs, Director of Oatland Island Wildlife Center

Oatland Island Wildlife Center was established in 1974 as a unit of the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System to provide environmental education and outdoor learning for local school children. The 175 acre facility includes a two mile nature trail that leads visitors through forest, salt marsh, and pond habitats where they can observe animals native to Georgia such as wolves, bobcats, birds of prey, foxes, alligators and cougars.

Oatland provides over 30 grade specific programs based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence for science and social studies to students from the county and surrounding region. In 2019, almost 30,000 students participated in one of Oatland’s programs. Many of these students reside in Chatham County but others come from the neighboring counties, the southern coast of South Carolina and even the Atlanta region.

Over the past 45 years, the center has become an important community resource and has expanded its mission to include providing the general public with experiences to help them make connections with the natural world. Open seven days a week to the public, Oatland now sees in excess of 75,000 general visitors each year from all over the world.