West Liberty University has put itself in exclusive company with its latest addition. The university last week cut the ribbon on its new Appalachian Aquatic Conservation Center. That center is now just one of four at universities across the United States. You’d have to travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, and Virginia Tech to find the next closest.

With the new facility, West Liberty University hopes to be the nation’s top university in the conservation of crayfish and spotted turtles. According to Zachary Loughman, chairman of organismal biology, ecology and zoo science departments at WLU, the new center will hatch both crayfish and spotted turtle eggs and release them into the wild, once they’re strong enough, to augment the wild populations of both.

“What I want people in the area to reali

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