Wilson inspired many with his love of nature and more

Namesake of Brewton's nature park left a legacy of preservation

Edward O. Wilson spent many hours playing in the dirt and looking under logs in search of just about anything that moved or grew while growing up in Brewton. His love of nature, and especially his fascination with ants, led to a great career that included 46 years as a professor at Harvard and two Pulitzer Prizes for his books 'On Human Nature' and 'The Ants'.

His love of nature led to the city of Brewton preserving 100-plus acres of land on both sides of Burnt Corn Creek that was dedicated as the E.O. Wilson Nature Adventure Park in June, 2015.

Wilson, 92, died Sunday in Burlington, Mass., but will always be remembered for his pioneering work as a biologist and study of nature.

"Dr. Wilson was larger than life in the world of science, from sociobiology to ants to conservation of species," said Brewton Mayor Yank Lovelace. "He never forgot his boyhood home in Brewton and was kind to lend us his name for a park dedicated to his ideals in preservation."

Lovelace noted that Dr. Wilson donated to a scholarship fund in his name for local college-bound students.

"I don't know that we will ever see a person who used his mind more effectively to impact the greater good, and his legacy will live on in Brewton," Lovelace said.

The goal of the E.O. Wilson Nature Adventure Park is to have it managed as a natural park that is home to some of the area's rare and native plants. More significantly it sits near downtown Brewton.

The city has tree identification tags marked on trails that allow visitors to use their smartphones to identify trees, even in the dead of winter.

During the 2015 dedication ceremony, Wilson praised the city of Breton for preserving nature and its natural world, saying it will one day be the key to small cities

Sierra Stiles, director of the Turtle Point Environmental Center in Flomaton, said she first met Dr. Wilson in the early 1990s while she was an undergraduate student at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She said she had read Dr. Wilson's first book 'The Naturalist' before Dr. Wilson gave his speech at the university.

"I loved his speech and met him at the library and he signed my book," Stiles said. "He told me Sierra was a beautiful name and that has always stuck with me."

She said Dr. Wilson is one of the reasons she took the science path in college and for her career.

She recalled Dr. Wilson talking at the University of Alabama about his Indigo snake project and she got invited up on the stage and got to hold an Indigo snake.

"People would call him 'Snake Wilson'," she said.

She and her husband are both biologists and she said she was there the day Brewton dedicated the park in Dr. Wilson's name.

"Every time I met him he was the most humble, kind man you've ever known," she said.

Stiles said Dr. Wilson didn't like to talk about himself or his successes. He wanted to hear other people's stories as well.

"I've been very inspired by him and his push to preserve nature," Stiles said. "He was a wonderful man and I'm honored to have known him."

She said she was doing research for the Conecuh National Forest when the job at Turtle Point came open and she knew she had found a new home. She credited Dr. Wilson for steering her in that direction.

Dr. Wilson had an obsession with ants and is credited for discovering the first colony of imported ants into the United States. Today the fire ant is a major pest in the south.

 
 
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