Training Facilities

Although training courses are held across the globe, many are hosted at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia.

Front Royal, a small town less than two hours from Washington D.C., is nestled at the tip of the Shenandoah mountains and Shenandoah National Park. Since 1974, the National Zoological Park has maintained extensive and diverse research programs on these 3,200 acres of land. Such a legacy contributes to SCBI being an optimal site for hosting training courses, conferences, workshops, and engaging global conservation practitioners in the work of the Smithsonian in conservation research and action.

The SCBI training center includes a dining facility, classroom, library, and computer lab, and auditorium. Course and workshop participants may tour and train in SCBI’s veterinary hospital, endocrine lab, reproductive lab, GIS lab, or field sites. Training may also take place in the classroom or auditorium. The current facilities support 28 adult participants or 54 youth, and an exercise room is available for recreation.

Additionally, participants in trainings often have opportunities to visit SCBI scientists working at the National Zoo in downtown D.C. and gain insight from the complementary work being performed on-site. The zoo hosts a pathology lab, veterinary hospital, and a new genetics lab, completed in 2010. Classroom space is also available downtown. In 2011, ground is being broken for a new training complex at SCBI in Front Royal.

Learn more about SCBI in Front Royal, Virginia.

Read about the sustainable features of the new training complex, to be completed in 2012.