The Brownville Fine Arts Association will host a free program Saturday, June 21. “In Contact With Nature” will feature Sue Kohls, horticultural therapist. Sue is the manager of the Prairie Pines Partners nonprofit at the Prairie Pines Nature Preserve, a 145-acre wildlife preserve located in northeast of Lincoln, Nebraska. The Prairie Pines Partners provide nature-based education and public access, and promotes contact with nature. For more information about the Prairie Pines Nature Preserve go to  https://prairiepines.org/

The hour long program will start at 10:00 a.m. in the Schoolhouse Art Gallery, located at 427 Main Street in Brownville, Nebraska. Sue will then lead an optional short walk in the arboretum. Her program will touch upon contact with nature research, highlighting the innate human connection to nature and its potential benefits. A short walk will introduce attendees to forest bathing and demonstrate the practice.

Sue’s first career was as a nurse. She then she attended Peru State College and UNL for a BS in horticulture. More recently, she attended the Denver Horticultural Therapy Institute to become a horticultural therapist and completed the Chicago Botanic Garden Therapeutic Garden Design Program. These two programs increased Sue’s awareness of the multitude of contact with nature research supporting the multidimensional benefits of contact with nature, “Vitamin N” as it is often referred. As a former employee of Nebraska Statewide Arboretum, Sue is very familiar with Brownville and the Furnas Arboretum and she been a curator for three NSA affiliated arboretum.

For more information, contact 402-414-2082.