Wehr Nature Center

A Place for all Seasons

Wehr Nature Center The environmental

education facility for the Milwaukee County Parks

220 acre Nature Preserve in Whitnall Park

Opened in 1974

Whitnall Park

Milwaukee County Parks

Where is Wehr?

Award Winning Programs!

2004 Winner of the National Feinstone Award

for Excellence in Environmental Education

2009 Winner of the Ideal Award from Keep

Greater Milwaukee Beautiful

Charles B. WhitnallHis vision and philosophy shaped today’s park system

Alfred Boerner

Added geographic distribution and waterways to vision

Depression and Expansion

Camp Whitnall (636)

Origins of Wehr in Conservation Education

Dust Bowl brought need for conservation education

Wisconsin was first state in nation to require conservation be taught in public schools. (1934)

Prairie Restoration

1960’s

Wehr Nature Center established 1974

Wisconsin is again first•Environmental Education is required K-12

•Teachers are required to take one credit of EE

Expansion- Nature in the Parks

Created in 1981 as the outreach program of Wehr

Cooperative effort of the UW-

Extension service and the Milwaukee County Parks

Our traveling naturalists

Operate the Adventure Summer Day

Camps

…to foster environmental awareness, knowledge, and a conservation ethic in people of all ages…

Mission

Learners of all ages

Programs That Help To Foster A Sense of Wonder

Programs for Pre-K to

K-5 Students

Sensory based Discovery Hikes

Programs for 1st to 3rd Grade

Programs for 4th Grade and older students

Geology Programs for Grades 3rd and older

Astronomy Programs in the Starlab for pre-k to 8th grade

Maple Sugar Days

Halloween Haunts

Cider Sunday

Reptile Day

Earth Day

Our Audience is Everyone!

It functions as a “living laboratory” and an educational and public information center to promote the care of the earth.

Mission continued…

Wehr Ecosystems• Woodland• Wetland• Prairie• Oak Savanna• Lake

Service Learning Opportunities

Volunteers Get the Work Done

“NO CHILD LEFT INSIDE”

Parks are important to people of all ages.

For nature study, recreation, and solitude

Nature

helps children develop powers of observation and creativity and instills a sense of peace and being at one with the world (Crain 2001)

Natural environments

stimulate social interaction between children (Bixler, Floyd and Hammutt 2003)

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are better able to concentrate after contact with nature (Taylor 2001)

Professional Development

College Credit Courses Offered Through UW-Milwaukee and UW- Whitewater

Courses focusing on teaching science with live animals

Workshops in Project Wild, Growing Up Wild, PLT, Project Wet, Flying Wild and Great Lakes in My World

Reaching underserved audiences

Forming new partnerships

Provide scholarships

New delivery methods to accommodate increased class sizes

Future Challenges

Getting everyone outside !!!!

Wehr Nature Center

A place for all seasons

Our Project!!!

“In the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create, but what we refuse to destroy”

-John Sawhill