Nature Center

Panda, shmanda. So we don't have a Tai Shan, the heart-meltingly adorable 6-month-old panda that is drawing unprecedented crowds to the National Zoo. Who needs cute, anyway? This is Baltimore, where cute has never held much sway. Cute is fleeting. Cute is shallow. And cute, it bears repeating, is sold out at least through January. Avoid the "panda-monium," Baltimore, and take solace, if not pride, in the fact that, while Washington may have cornered the market on cute, our town - even with its zoo closed in January and February - boasts some of the strangest, quirkiest, dare we say ugliest, creatures on the planet.

Holding a thin piece of deerskin stretched tightly over a small brown painted coffee can, Alex Genuario concentrated on threading a piece of hemp through the small holes poked in the hide. Standing next to him, his younger brother, Dominic, threaded beads onto his piece of hemp and attached a wild turkey feather as a finishing touch. The Genuario brothers, 11 and 9, were making Native American drums as part of a program at the nature center in Piney Run Park in Sykesville. More than 15 elementary school-aged children participated in the event that was designed to teach them about Native American culture and make use of real animal hide donated to the nature center.

TODAY Fall festival -- Baugher's Orchard is holding a fall festival from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1236 Baugher Road, off Route 140 West. Wagon rides to the pumpkin patch and apple picking are offered, weather permitting. Visitors should call Baugher's at 410-857-0111 to verify availability of produce. A Civil War re-enactment will be held with re-enactors from Company I, First Maryland Volunteer Infantry, Confederate States of America camping on the grounds and offering a firsthand look at battlefield life through discussions and demonstrations.

He was an adventurer who kept records that are studied to this day. Now, nearly four centuries after he explored the Chesapeake Bay, Capt. John Smith is the subject of a series of events at an eastern Baltimore County nature center. Marshy Point Nature Center's celebration of the coming 400th anniversary of Smith's exploration and mapping of the Chesapeake Bay begins tomorrow with a lecture at 7:30 p.m. by historian and ecologist Kent Mountford. Other free lectures in observance of Smith's feats, including one on a project to build a replica of his 17th-century boat, will follow at the nature center in Chase.

Mud dredged from the bottom of the Inner Harbor would be dumped at a new site along the banks of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River in South Baltimore under a proposal by the Maryland Port Administration. The undersea muck - which officials say would be cleaned of contaminants - would get new life as the foundation for a marine terminal. And in exchange for allowing the plan to proceed, the community would see nearby land transformed into a nature center and sanctuary for eagles, ospreys and shorebirds.

The Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks, in conjunction with an all-volunteer advisory board, oversees numerous park areas and 14 recreation councils that offer opportunities for all residents. From softball, baseball, soccer and football, to firearm shooting, crafts, travel, fishing, walking or horseback riding, there's something nearby for everyone. The department also offers bus trips, youth and family programs and classes for all ages in a variety of subjects, ranging from arts and crafts and hobbies to health and fitness and therapeutic recreation.

The building is new, which means it instantly seems out of place, considering that nothing else on the property is less than two centuries old. Despite the incongruity, the structure on the 232-acre Mount Pleasant Farm in Woodstock is the doorway to the past and the future and, its owners hope, will instill the public with an understanding and appreciation of the environment and nature. That is a tall order for a structure not even 9,000 square feet and that from the outside resembles a barn, but the Howard County Conservancy is banking on the appeal of its new education center.

Anne Robinson was passionate about preserving her wooded property on Columbia's southern edge, sometimes even chasing off developers with a broom. As the value of the property grew with development around the Howard County planned community, the offers got higher and higher. Last year, someone bid $5.5 million. Still, the diminutive woman - who spent her final years as a widow in a badly run-down home on the property - said no. "Her desire was to keep it pristine," said Jeffrey D. Ring, Robinson's accountant.

Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster has canceled its Maple Sugarin' Festival, scheduled for Sunday, because of weather conditions and inadequate parking. However, Bear Branch Nature Center, on the Hashawha grounds at 300 John Owings Road, will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The nature center will offer maple sugar products for sale, movies, planetarium shows and live animal demonstrations. Information: 410-848-2517.

Stargazing The Community College of Baltimore County, Dundalk (CCBC Dundalk) is opening its observatory to the public for a series of "star parties" on Friday evenings throughout the winter. View the night sky through the college's Meade 16-inch LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and talk with science faculty who will be on hand to answer questions and guide observations. The observatory is at the CCBC Dundalk campus at 7200 Sollers Point Road. Star parties will be held 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow, March 4 and March 18, 8 p.m.-10 p.m. on April 15 and 9 p.m.-11 p.m. on April 29 and May 6. Free.