Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center

The Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center (WNC)is an outdoor education facility with a focus on natural history. It is located in northern Washington County about convert|30|mi|km northeast of St. Paul, Minnesota. Warner was the first private nature center in the state of Minnesota. With funding from the Warner Foundation, WNC is the only nature center in the state of Minnesota to still provide free on-site programming to schools.

Mission

"To build lasting relationships between people and the natural world."

ite

The Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center is a convert|700|acre|km2|sing=oncite web |url=http://presspubs.com/articles/2008/08/29/st_croix_valley_press/news/doc48b8039953035473423885.txt |title=Warner Nature Center Continues to Expand |accessdate=2008-10-09 |author=Jay Stephenson |date=2008-08-29 |work=St. Croix Valley Press.com |publisher=Press Publications ] outdoor school set in undeveloped woodland, marsh, lake, bog, grasslands. The site also includes a restoration prairie and savanna. There are over six miles (10 km) of trails on the property but they are not marked and are only for use by groups who have booked a program with the naturalist staff.

The center adjoins Wilder Forest and the combined area of the two organizations approaches convert|2000|acre|km2.

Warner is also the western anchor for the metro greenways corridor which protects a greenway (landscape) of land for five miles (8 km) between WNC and the St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota) The whole corridor protects approximately convert|2400|acre|km2.

Warner is home to a wild population of threatened Blanding's Turtles. In part because of their presence, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has designated the land Warner sits on as a Regionally Significant Ecological Area with a level 3 designation, the highest possiblecite map
publisher = Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
title = Regionally Significant Terrestrial and Wetland Ecological Areas
url = http://files.dnr.state.mn.us/assistance/nrplanning/bigpicture/rsea/map.pdf
edition = 2003
section =
accessdate =2008-09-23 ] .

History

WNC is the oldest private nature center in the state of Minnesota and serves about 9,000 school children a year with outdoor natural history programming.cite web |url=http://www.twincities.com/ci_9482582?IADID |title=Warner Nature Center will keep its lesson in destruction from last month's storms |accessdate=2008-06-06 |author=Mary Divine |date=2008-06-05 |work=TwinCities.com |publisher=Pioneer Press ] The first director, Bernie Fashingbauer began work in 1965 as construction began on the main building. The project was initiated by the St. Paul Science Museum (now the Science Museum of Minnesota), The Amherst H. Wilder Foundation and the Junior League of St. Paul. By the spring and fall of 1966, orientation sessions began for teachers. The first students arrived on site in the fall of 1967. At the time, the center was known as both the Wilder Nature Center and The Science Museum Nature Center.

In 1970, the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation purchased convert|300|acre|km2 of land and the existing nature center buildings from the Amherst H Wilder Foundation to serve as a memorial to founders Lee and Rose Warner of St Paul. Warner Nature Center is still associated with the Science Museum of Minnesota and financially supported primarily through the generosity of the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation.

Warner has a strong legacy of volunteerism. When Bernie Fashingbauer told people he was going to use volunteer trail guides to take groups of students out on the trails people told him he was crazy. Forty years later, over 100 volunteers continue to dedicate their time to students.

Warner employs 8 full time staff, two part time staff, and up to two interns.

Awards

The Warner Nature Center was recognized with an Award of Excellence by the Mutual of Omaha's Wildlife Heritage Center for displaying leadership and vision in promoting awareness and appreciation of our natural world.

Partnerships

The Warner Nature Center is associated with the Science Museum of Minnesota one of the nations leading science education centers.

Warner is a partner with Bird Conservation Minnesota.

Warner is a partner site with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology on the NestWatch program. Warner staff provide training workshops and maintain online camera feeds of nests in the spring.

Footnotes

External links

* [http://www.warnernaturecenter.org Warner Nature Center] Official Website
* [http://www.aws.com/AWS/wx.asp?id=MRNNS Instant Weather Data] Live feed of WNC weather station via AWS
* [http://cleardarksky.com/c/WrnrNCMNkey.html?1 Clear Sky Chart] Astronomy Weather predictions for Warner Nature Center
* [http://www.seek.state.mn.us/compact2.cfm?ItemId=974 SEEK Description] Warner's listing on SEEK-Sharing Environmental Education Knowledge
* [http://www.gocitykids.com/browse/attraction.jsp?id=27705 GoCityKids] GoCityKids official listing for Warner Nature Center
* [http://www.ilovestillwater.com/listing.php?category=44 I love Stillwater] I love Stillwater listing for Warner Nature Center
* [http://watch.birds.cornell.edu/nestcontent/partners/lee-rose-warner-nature-center NestWatch] Warner's NestWatch page at Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology