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Weber grew up on a farm in northern Ohio, not far from Toledo, but didn’t hang around long after graduating from high school. He developed a love of nature and the outdoors as a young boy when he would take frequent and solitary nature walks near his home. He realized he was noticing things about nature that others missed, and he turned that passion into a biology degree and a job teaching high school science in Missouri.

He found himself in Minnesota for the first time while earning a masters degree in biology at St. Mary’s University in Winona.

“I found out I liked Minnesota when I was in Winona,” Weber said. “And then I had a chance to take a north country canoe trip and realized I liked Minnesota even more.”

In 1978 Weber accepted a one-year replacement teaching position at what was then Cathedral High School in Duluth. He stayed for 30 years, retiring in 2008 from what had become the Marshall School. At first he taught high school-level science courses but, as the school expanded into more grades, he took on seventh grade science.

“I told them I’d take the seventh graders if I could do it the way I wanted. They said yes,” Weber said. “I never used a textbook. We would go out and use nature as our textbook. Whatever was happening that day, whether it was mushrooms or wildflowers or fall migration, that’s what we studied.”

While he often took kids on field trips across the Northland, he more often had them outside the school, poking around in nature on the campus, showing them they didn’t have to go far to find fascinating creatures or plants. His goal was to get students to be more observant, to appreciate what nature had to offer, to appreciate nature’s intrinsic value.

“You aren’t going to save nature, or save your surroundings, if you don’t see something worth saving,” Weber said. “That’s my goal, to get them to see what’s worth saving. It’s up to the student to take the next step.”

After retiring, Weber didn’t stop teaching. He continues to lead Minnesota Master Naturalist Program courses offered through University of Minnesota Extension.

“I don’t like the name, I think it should be citizen naturalist, because we don’t make you master anything. It’s just a fantastic program to get people” more tuned in to nature, Weber said.

Last year Weber received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Minnesota Association for Environmental Education for his outstanding service and contribution to the field of environmental education in Minnesota.

“Thanks to Larry, many Minnesotans have discovered everyday wonders in their own backyard, realizing that nature is not a place you visit but something you are part of. Through this award, we hope to recognize all that Larry has accomplished for environmental education in Minnesota,” said Elissa Mallory of the Minnesota Association of Environmental Educators.

Weber “ignited passion, curiosity and wonder in the thousands of students that were fortunate enough to wind up in his classroom. He used phenology, the study of seasonal phenomena in nature, to connect students to their natural world around them,” the association said in announcing Weber’s award.

“Simply put, Larry Weber is an institution in Minnesota environmental education. His educational reach and impact over the last 50 years is truly astounding,” said Bryan Wood of the Osprey Environmental Learning Center.

The latest award added to Weber’s already long resume. He’s also won the Minnesota Secondary Science Teacher of the Year and the National Biology Teacher Association’s Middle School Life Science Teacher of the Year.

Weber has also been busy writing books. He’s published 17 now, including updated editions of previous books. The first was his ever-popular “Backyard Almanac,” now about to be released in its third edition.

“I’ve had teachers tell me they use it for their textbook, so that makes me feel pretty good,” Weber said.

It was about the time “Backyard Almanac” came out that Weber first appeared on KUMD radio in Duluth for a single show about frogs. Listeners and producers at the station liked it so much it became a regular gig, also called Backyard Almanac, and the show now airs every Friday at 8:20 a.M. He’s also featured weekly on WTIP community radio in Grand Marais

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