An all-family adventure -- orienteering with map and compass through Cornell Plantations' F.R. Newman Arboretum -- is planned from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 30, at Cornell University.

Admission to the "Explore the Arboretum" event is free to all who register a week in advance. Admission the day of the event is $5 per family. Families may begin the course anytime between 1 and 4 p.m. The orienteering course starts at a tent at the arboretum ponds. The event is sponsored by the Class of 1940 gift to Plantations and the Central New York Orienteering Chapter.

"Expert orienteers will help families learn to work together, to learn to read a map and use a compass to discover all the treasures of Newman Arboretum," says Raylene Ludgate, education program coordinator at Cornell Plantations. "You'll be able to meander among the wildflowers, squeeze through Slim Jim Woods and conquer the highest point on the Cornell campus."

Newman Arboretum is the site for some of Cornell Plantations' collections of trees, shrubs and aquatic plants, blended into more than 100 acres of woodlands, meadows, ponds and fields. Entrances to the arboretum are located off Route 366 on Caldwell Road or on Forest Home Drive.

For more information and advance registration, call Cornell Plantations at (607) 255-2407.

Cornell Plantations grounds are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dark each day. For more information, call (607) 255-3020. Or visit the Cornell Plantations web site at http://www.plantations.cornell.edu to learn "What's Blooming at Plantations" and get the online guide to the Plantations Path as well as schedules of Plantations classes and special events.