John T. Nickle possesses a strong emphasis on preserving our natural world. From Muskogee, Oklahoma, Nickle spent his youth working at his father’s retail landscape nursery. Nickle attended Connors State College before transferring to the Southern California Institute of Architecture in Santa Monica, California. Following graduation, he returned home and established the Greenleaf Nursery Wholesale on Lake Tenkiller. Today it is one of the largest wholesale producers of shrubs and trees with locations in multiple states. Nickle always has prioritized giving back. He and Greenleaf Nursery Wholesale worked together to donate $1 million to the Oklahoma State University Horticulture Department to build a new greenhouse teaching facility. He also has donated 14,000 acres to The Nature Conservancy to safeguard land from any development and allow nature to thrive undisturbed. He owns the largest privately protected conservation area in the Ozarks with the J. T. Nickle Family Nature and Wildlife Preserve. Nickle was awarded The Nature Conservancy’s first Oak Leaf Award. Although, Nickle is a successful businessman and entrepreneur, he is dedicated to conserving Earth’s most prized resource- the natural world. This week we will be learning about the changing seasons and its affect on the natural world around us.