Hawarden, Iowa — After over ten years of planning and over a year since the ground was broken, it is time for the grand opening of the Sioux County Conservation Nature Center near Hawarden.
Sioux County Naturalist Sunday Ford says the problem was they had the staff to do the education, but not the space. She says until now, there were many children who wanted to go to summer camp, but they did not have space for them.
The project received an Enhance Iowa Community Grant of $600 thousand from the state, to go along with the $4.8 million being raised. The 12 thousand-square-foot facility will host naturalist-led school field trips, summer camps, nursing home visits, civic groups, and families as they explore historical and wildlife displays. The total cost for the Nature Center was $4.8 million dollars.
Ford tells us about the open house and what you can see at the center.
The Prairie Woods Nature Center is at Oak Grove Park, 4051 Cherry Avenue, near Hawarden.
