This past Saturday afternoon I was invited to head out to the Nederland “back yard” for a very special event. Nederland’s long-standing non-profit nature education organization, Wild Bear Nature Center has been working for decades towards creating a sustainable space for nature education, and the last few years havve seen leaps of progress towards the dream finally manifesting in reality. A couple years ago, I was invited to photograph the Native American ground blessing, and this past weekend I was finally able to see the next phase of a dream come true.
It’s been a long time coming, but Saturday was the first official progress walk-through of the new center for supporters and board members. This amazing project will house educational displays of local nature, classrooms, a kitchen for event catering, an outdoor amphitheater for nature talks and possible theater and musical productions, connections to trails heading out all over the open space, and so much more!
Wild Bear founder Jill Dreves was present for the ribbon cutting, some opening words, and helped guide a few tours through her dream come to fruition. Along with the tours, representatives from the various local construction and excavation teams were on hand to talk about their work, and all attendees were encouraged to leave a little note and signature in one of the corners of the new building as well as a main support beam, memories and well-wishes to be encapsuled for the future to appreciate.
Being an incredibly avid nature lover myself, it has been near and dear to my heart to watch this vision come to life. I’ve spent countless hours over the years wandering the trails of this very special open space area, and it is wonderful to see the progress first hand and being a part of sharing it with the world. I greatly look forward to enjoying the final masterpiece of nature education in our own back yard!
If you wish to donate to this amazing organization and project, click the link below to head over to the Wild Bear Nature Center website and help to bring nature education to the next generations in a very special way!
https://wildbear.org/
