David Catlin Consulting LLC

I had a great time at the Association of Nature Center Administrators Summit , held last week at Chippewa Nature Center in Midland, Michigan. It was an energized gathering of 170 nature center professionals, with lots of great information and even better networking!

I had a chance to visit Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary in Green Bay, Wisconsin, recently. It features almost 600 acres of woods and wetlands with a nature center at its core. It's operated by the Green Bay Parks Department. There are trails, boardwalks, a building with classrooms and exhibits, and an extensive wildlife rehabilitation facility.

The cost of new nature centers, like the cost of everything else, keeps going up. It varies immensely from project to project, of course, but here is one recent example: this new center in Rolling Hills Estates, California, is projected to cost $1,864 per square foot (including the design, construction management and furnishing costs) once it is completed next year.

Ground Broken On New Nature Center In South Bay Peninsula Area A groundbreaking for the new 3,300-square-foot Nature Center at the George F. Canyon building was held recently in Rolling Hills Estates.

Yesterday's Native Plant Sale at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center. The sale has been a more-or-less annual event for over 30 years. Long-time volunteers tell me that people used to show up with lots of questions. Now they show up with pre-order receipts and shopping lists. Folks are slowly learning about the value of planting native species!

How and when did nature centers start as a "thing?" Who first came up with the idea? Here is a short early history. . . . https://davidcatlin.com/a-short-history-of-nature-centers/

There was a time, perhaps 20 years ago, when it was an achievement for a nature center to earn LEED certification as acknowledgement of environmentally sound design. The bar was raised when facilities like the Leopold Legacy Center in Baraboo, Wisconsin, opened a net zero building and Indian Creek Nature Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, achieved Living Building Challenge Petal Certification. Now I see that the new Wild Bear Nature Center in Nederland, Colorado, has "flipped the switch" on a solar array that will help make them a net-positive energy building, producing more energy than they use. Congratulations!

Wild Bear energized for "net-positivity" - The Mountain-Ear The Wild Bear Nature Center is nearing completion of a new net-positive, solar-powered campus.

I'm always pleased when I see new nature centers being planned!

Orange Audubon eyes nature center near Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive Volunteers at Apopka Birding Park spent a cloudy, damp morning spreading mulch, staking gopher tortoise burrows and clearing invasive plants as Orange Audubon Society moves closer to opening a nature center at the site.

I enjoyed participating in the recent ANCA Virtual Summit (mentioned in my last post here). Most of what I talked about in the session I led is information I covered in an article for ANCA's "Directions" publication in 2024. If you missed the Summit presentation but are interested in the stuff I covered, click on the link to that article below. . . .

Association of Nature Center Administrators - Meeting the Needs of Nature Center Visitors Association of Nature Center Administrators (ANCA) is a professional association dedicated to leaders in the nature and environmental learning center profession, including directors, managers, senior administrators and board members.

I'm looking forward to presenting a session at this week's Association of Nature Center Administrators' "Virtual Summit." This is a screen shot from the last one I participated in--the COVID-inspired version held back in 2020!

I made one other eye-opening stop last week in Philadelphia: the Discovery Center. When I was working for Audubon, it was just a concept--and a very complicated one at that, requiring a partnership involving Audubon, Philadelphia Outward Bound, and the City of Philadelphia, which owned the fenced, unused water reservoir that we envisioned as its centerpiece. The staff of what was then known as Audubon Pennsylvania pulled it off, though! Now it's a striking amenity in the middle of the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, just a short jog from the Art Museum steps made famous by "Rocky Balboa."