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 30 miles 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.

Contents

Mission

Site

History

Partnerships

External links

Mission

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

Site

The Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center is a 600 acre outdoor school set in undeveloped woodland, marsh, lake, bog, grasslands. The site also includes a restoration prairie and savanna. There are over six miles of trails on the property but they are not marked and only for use by groups who have booked a program with the naturalist staff.
The center ajoins Wilder forest and the combined acerage of the two organizations approaches 2000 acres.
Warner is also the western anchor for the metro greenways corridor which protects a greenway (landscape) of land for five miles between WNC and the St. Croix River (Wisconsin-Minnesota)

History

WNC is the oldest private nature center in the state of Minnesota. 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 300 acres 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. Wasner 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.

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.

External links

★ Warner Nature Center Official Website

★ Instant Weather Data Live feed of WNC weather station via AWS

★ Clear Sky Clock Astronomy Weather predictions for Warner Nature Center

★ SEEK Description Warner's listing on SEEK-Sharing Environmental Education Knowledge

★ GoCityKids GoCityKids official listing for Warner Nature Center

★ I love Stillwater I love Stillwater listing for Warner Nature Center