$8 million redo possible at Eastman Greater outdoors

Darlene Prois, Star Tribune

Eastman Nature Center in winter

A bigger, better Eastman Nature Center is under consideration for Elm Creek preserve.

By LAURIE BLAKE, Star Tribune

Last update: November 11, 2009 - 9:55 AM

Elm Creek Park Reserve in Dayton -- the largest and most heavily visited park in the west suburban Three Rivers Park District -- is in line for a new nature center.

The cramped, aging Eastman Nature Center houses the park's classrooms, educational displays and public information. After touring the building last month, Park District commissioners last week decided to include up to $8 million in the district's 2010 capital budget to replace it.

A new Eastman Center would be one of the largest projects, if not the largest, in next year's capital improvement budget, said Tom McDowell, assistant superintendent of outdoor education and recreation.

Typically, the district spends $15 million to $20 million a year on physical improvements and pays for them with grants and bonds, said its chief financial officer, Howard Koolick. The Park Board will discuss the capital budget again in the next few weeks. If a new nature center wins final approval, it could open in 2011, Koolick said.

Set in a thicket of trees near a pond, the long, one-story Eastman Nature Center opened in 1974. It is named for Whitney Eastman, who was an engineer, author, philanthropist and bird watcher known for spotting a rare (and now feared extinct) Ivory Billed Woodpecker in Florida in 1950.

Like the Park District's other two nature centers -- Richardson Nature Center in Bloomington and the Lowry Nature Center in Victoria -- Eastman is the hub for programs in Elm Creek Reserve.

But the building lacks space for classrooms and staff offices and needs new windows and roof repairs, McDowell said. Maintenance has been put off because the staff has known that a major renovation would be proposed. But now "the deferred maintenance can no longer be deferred,'' McDowell said.

Crammed with animal skulls, antlers, stuffed birds, a beaver, raccoon, owls and turtles, living and dead -- and even an active beehive with a tube to the outside for bees to come and go -- the Nature Center's largest room is geared toward children.

Adults are drawn to the wall of windows overlooking trees and bird feeders. Last week, a large Pileated Woodpecker drilled into a tree just feet from the nature center's back door.

A common destination for school field trips and scout groups, the Nature Center also offers public lessons, demonstrations and activities. Most of the year the building functions at maximum capacity, McDowell said.

Nature preschool a possibility

As a potential first for Three Rivers, the Eastman staff has proposed that the district study the feasibility of offering a nature preschool at the new Eastman Center.

"Eastman Nature Center has a huge following for the preschool crowd,'' said Bob Gibson, senior outdoor education manager for Three Rivers. One upcoming Kits and Cubs nature class for 4- and 5-year-olds filled up in 45 minutes. And 300 preschoolers attended the recent Halloween Party at the center.

Preschool is an age group for which the center can never offer too many programs, Gibson said. Many children today grow up with limited exposure to the outdoors, and "parents are looking for ways to get their kids out,'' Gibson said. "People are starting to realize that the nature connection is something their kids are missing.''

It's in response to that demand that the nature preschool idea has come up, Gibson said. The idea has yet to be discussed by the board.

As envisioned, a new Eastman Nature Center would be a "green" building. Designs have not yet been commissioned.

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711

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