title: Powdermill Nature Reserve
text: # Powdermill Nature Reserve
  
  The Powdermill Nature Reserve is an environmental research center that is operated by the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
  
  ## History and notable features
  
  Established in 1956, Powdermill serves as a field station for long-term studies of natural populations, and now forms the core of the museum's Center for Biodiversity and Ecosystems. The reserve encompasses 928.17 hectares, which includes forests (~891 hectares), fields (~21 hectares), developed land (~17 hectares), and ponds and streams (~0.36 hectares).
  
  It is located in the Laurel Highlands, fifty-five miles southeast of Pittsburgh near Rector, Pennsylvania.
  
  Powdermill is well known for its avian research and is one of the longest continually-running bird banding stations in the United States.
  
  