A group of scientists and researchers who continued a national environmental study after the Trump Administration disbanded it will give members of the public a chance to comment on the project next week at the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

The study, called The Nature Record, is the first comprehensive, independent, evidence-based assessment on the health of nature in the United States — including how it’s changing and what that means for people. The authors released an 868-page draft for public feedback and scientific review earlier this month. In addition to having people submit comments through the website, The Nature Record researchers will host virtual and in-person public engagement sessions across the country.

The Schuylkill Center in Roxborough will host the very first public session on Tuesday, March 24, from 6 to 8 p.m. Attendees will have the chance learn about the report and share their thoughts with the project’s director, Phillip Levin. Feedback helps improve the clarity and accuracy of the study, the authors said on The Nature Record’s website.

“The Schuylkill Center doesn’t often have the opportunity to be part of a national dialogue on nature and our experience as Americans in 2026 around nature,” said Erin Mooney, executive director of the Schuylkill Center. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for the center to be part of the dialogue, to involve our supporters and Philadelphia residents around this conversation, and to document what we’re seeing in this urban area.”

As the largest privately held natural area in Philadelphia, the Schuylkill Center is “the perfect place” in the city to host this event, Mooney said.

“We also draw from many different populations. We have Philadelphia residents and residents from surrounding counties, and we have a cross section of people who care about nature, who can be a part of this dialogue,” she said.

The center connected with Levin through the Accessing Urban Nature Initiative, a project by the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine that studies wildlife in Philadelphia, said project leader and wildlife ecologist Julie Carol Ellis. The project — which has motion-activated cameras at the Schuylkill Center and other public spaces in Philadelphia — will host Levin at Penn Vet on March 23 for a seminar and to meet with faculty and students, she said.

The findings in The Nature Record are relevant to Northwest Philadelphians in numerous ways, Ellis said. It highlights the role of urban green spaces in improving air quality, protecting local water sources and improving the mental and physical well-being of park visitors. The area is home to the Schuylkill Center, Wissahickon Valley Park and other public spaces.

The study also offers strategies for communities to become more climate resilient, as climate change brings more extreme weather events to Philadelphia and the rest of the U.S. It details as well the importance of partnering with various stakeholder groups to help protect biodiversity.

“With so many dedicated groups committed to conserving Northwest Philadelphia’s urban green spaces, insights from The Nature Record should resonate,” Ellis said in an email.

The effort by nearly 200 leading scientists and other experts initially kicked off on Earth Day 2022, when then-President Joe Biden signed an executive order calling for federal agencies to work with researchers on a national study on the state of nature. President Trump revoked the directive shortly after his inauguration in January 2025, weeks before the draft was due, The New York Times reported.

Still, the team of scientists pursued the study independently and raised $3 million for the effort.

“It just reaffirmed, in a really visceral way, the importance of the work,” Levin said about the fundraising in the March 5 article.

The White House didn’t directly answer questions about the assessment, but Senior Deputy Press Secretary Kush Desai wrote to The New York Times in an email, “The Trump administration’s efforts to slash taxpayer funding of waste, fraud and abuse in grant spending — including for ideological pet projects — are only strengthening what’s driven America’s dominance in research and development.”

Last year, Trump rolled back dozens of environmental regulations, cut funding for climate research and dismissed the authors of the national climate assessment, an annual report mandated by Congress.

The Nature Record, initially called the National Nature Assessment, creates a clear picture of the role nature plays in people’s everyday lives, such as local economies, public health and the strength of communities. Each chapter documents a different phenomenon in the U.S., including changes in marine ecosystems, the role of climate change and the intersection of culture and nature. The findings are daunting. Freshwater ecosystems and biodiversity in the U.S. are in a crisis. Human actions are depleting natural resources, such as clean water, food and protection from natural disasters.

But the authors take an optimistic approach, highlighting the resilience of nature and the solutions the U.S. can take to reverse these issues.

The study will be reviewed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the public can comment on the draft through May 30. The final version is expected to be published in late fall, The Times reported.

The event will take place at The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education on 8480 Hagy’s Mill Road, Philadelphia, from 6 to 8 p.m. on March 24. Attendees must register for the free event at schuylkillcenter.org/event/the-nature-record/.