Academy of Natural Sciences financial problems

[Patti <pkv1@erols.com>]

(As reported by Mary K. to the dinolist.
I've been volunteering and working there since 1998 and have seen the 
drastic cuts over the years.  It's a fantastic and priceless place that is 
undervalued by the city and the public in general.  it would be great to get 
strong leadership in the president's office this next time around, as well 
as the drastic upgrade the museum needs! The article is incisive and 
well-researched. - Patti)
_______________________________________________________
Dinosaur museum is itself threatened"
"The Academy of Natural Sciences  has been harmed by cuts in staffing and
years of financial troubles."
By  Patricia Horn
Inquirer Staff Writer
Posted on Sun, Dec. 04,  2005
http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/living/health/13324126.htm

To  generations of parents and children, the Academy of Natural Sciences is
Philadelphia's dinosaur museum.
But to scientists who study climate change,  the extinction of species, and
other critical ecological matters, the academy is  the home of one of the
world's most valuable collections of biological  specimens, critical to
understanding life on Earth.
"The academy is not just  another museum," said Piotr Naskrecki, a Harvard
University-based director of  Conservation International. "It is a priceless
library of biodiversity."
And  it is all at risk.
The academy, at 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, is  struggling financially,
and has been for more than a decade. It ran deficits  through much of the
1980s, and from 1993 through last year, the academy ran  annual deficits 
averaging
about $700,000 a year.
The shortfalls have forced  the academy over the last 15 years to shed many
of the people who care for its  25 million specimens of fish, moss, coral,
diatoms, dinosaur bones, birds,  mammals, mollusks and plants.
The cuts continued last year, as it reduced its  already shrunken scientific
staff by a third, trimmed other staff, and  restructured.
All that has left scientists in and out of the academy worried  about the
welfare of the collection and the future of the institution.
_____

<SNIP> of long, interesting article.

Mary


Patricia Kane-Vanni, Esq.
Bala Cynwyd, PA  19004
pkv1@erols.com or paleopatti@hotmail.com
http://groups.msn.com/DinosaurandFossilDigs

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.  Small people 
always do that, but really great ones make you feel that you too, can become 
great." - Mark Twain