Officials with Chippewa Nature Center celebrated the groundbreaking of a planned $5.2 million education center this week. The ceremony, held on Tuesday, April 23, offered attendees an early peek at the Midland-based nonprofit’s plans to open a 10,000-square-foot facility that will host the center’s Nature Day Camp program and outings from schools across the region.
Chippewa Nature Center Executive Director Dennis Pilaske said in a statement that the site of the new facility will remain under construction throughout this year, with the building’s first expected usage being next year’s Nature Day Camp, which typically spans from June to August.
“Nature Day Camp 2025 is slated to be the first program run out of the Nature Education Center, and we truly couldn’t be more excited to see this project come to fruition,” Pilaske said in a statement.
Officials said the new education center will feature multi-purpose indoor program space, two classrooms, a meeting room, office space, a dining space, and an outdoors space with a weather-protecting cover. Pilaske said that during the construction period, visitors will continue to receive access to Chippewa Nature Center trails and parking lots.
Established in 1966, the center at 400 S. Badour Road offers a nature preschool, nature day camp, and other outdoor experiences for children and families, along with about 19 miles of trails. The new nature education center will be located near Chippewa Nature Center’s existing nature preschool and visitor center buildings.
Officials said the new education center was necessary because the camp and preschool programs outgrew the current space that hosts those initiatives. Nature Day Camp is the center’s longest-running program, with over 1,200 children ages 3 to 17 attending the camp each year. About 140 3- and 4-year-old children at a time attend the center’s preschool programs.
For more information about the nature center and its programs, visit www.chippewanaturecenter.org.
