Austin’s natural legacy; Nature Center’s interpretive center moving forward with $5M Foundation grant

Published 10:25 am Friday, November 21, 2014

This artist’s rendition shows the new interpretive center of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. The project received a $5-million grant from the Hormel Foundation earlier this week.

This artist’s rendition shows the new interpretive center of the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center. The project received a $5-million grant from the Hormel Foundation earlier this week.

In a few short years, the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center will dedicate a new interpretive center nearly triple the size of its current building that will feature several educational exhibits and put sustainability practices into action.

The Nature Center’s plans for a new interpretive center will become a reality after the Hormel Foundation approved a $5 million grant for the project earlier this week — a grant that will cover the bulk of the $7-million project.

“The Hormel Foundation was a key with us going ahead,” said Nature Center Executive Director Larry Dolphin.

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Foundation Chairman Gary Ray said the board’s decision was unanimous.

“We’re really excited about it,” he said.

Like many Foundation-supported projects, Ray said, the new interpretive center is the type of project Jay Hormel would have supported.

“What it’s doing is it’s carrying on one of the legacies of Jay Hormel,” Ray said.

The project was announced last year in part to add more room to the facility and in part because the current interpretive center is in the flight path for the Austin Municipal Airport.

The current interpretive center at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, which was built in 1975, will be torn down after the new building is completed in 2014. Herald file photo

The current interpretive center at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center, which was built in 1975, will be torn down after the new building is completed in 2014. Herald file photo

The interpretive center will be 15,000-square-feet — three times the size of the current building — and it will be built northeast of the current maintenance building.

“We’re just really out of space, out of room,” Dolphin said.

With the Foundation’s grant, the Nature Center has about $5.8 million for the new interpretive center. Along with the $5 million from the Foundation, the project will receive $500,000 in capital improvement funds from the city in 2016, $200,000 from the Friends of the Nature Center, and it’s already received about $100,000 in donations.

“We’re in really good shape to proceed with the project,” Dolphin said.

The Ruby Rupner Auditorium will remain, but the current interpretive center, which was built in 1975, will be torn down. Work to ready the site will begin next year, as the maintenance building will be moved to near the current entrance.

Work will start on a new main entrance, which will be just north of the current entrance and will run parallel with the south end of the parking lot.

The project is set to go out for bids late next year, with construction beginning in spring of 2016. The project is scheduled to be done in time for a dedication on Oct. 1, 2017.

Room for education

The Nature Center will now start fundraising for the remaining $1.2 million, much of which will go toward new educational exhibits. Dolphin plans to set up packages for large and small donors, giving everyone who wants an opportunity to support the project.

The current plan calls for 15 exhibits, which could include displays on birds of prey, a creatures of the night, prairie/soil and plants, endangered species, and an early childhood room with several hands-on activities.

The aerial artist’s rendition shows the proposed locations of the buildings, with the new interpretive center up top.

The aerial artist’s rendition shows the proposed locations of the buildings, with the new interpretive center up top.

Technology will be a vital part of several of the exhibits, and Dolphin said they’re working with other centers to see what has worked and what hasn’t.

“We want them to last, and we want to look at how much we might have to maintain them to keep them going,” he said.

The Foundation board was most excited about the proposed education exhibits, according to Ray.

“This is just another form of how our children are going to learn more about nature,” he said.

The interpretive center itself will be a learning tool, as it will include several sustainable living practices. The center will feature a cistern to collect water from the roof. It will also utilize solar energy and geothermal heating and cooling. Plus, Dolphin said it will have a rain garden south of the building.

“We have a lot of ideas and of course it’s about conservation, using our natural resources wisely,” Dolphin said.

Dolphin hopes the center will serve as an example for how people can live with a lighter footprint, especially as the world’s population grows well past 7 billion people.

“We’re setting an example for sustainability for the future,” Dolphin said.

An Austin attraction

With the increased space in the new interpretive center, Dolphin envisions the Nature Center being able to host new types of events.

“We have an opportunity to host a conference and have a greater number of people to come into Austin for a workshop or conference,” he said.

School programs are also a vital part of the Nature Center, as more than 4,000 area students visit each year. That number could increase, as Dolphin said they may look to invite more children from nearby communities like Albert Lea in the future.Timeline

Dolphin said he continues to see more people coming to the Nature Center, whether it’s for running, walking, cross country skiing or for photos.

“I’ve never seen so many photographers in all my life,” Dolphin said, noting people come out for portraits and nature shots.

With the new center on the horizon, Dolphin hopes to put more signage or a billboard on Interstate 90 to attract travelers, as he said many outside Austin don’t know about the center.

“We’re a great place for someone coming on the interstate to talk a walk or just enjoy nature,” he said, adding he hopes it will help bring people to Austin to visit other attractions in the community.

Ray described the Nature Center as a valuable asset to the city of Austin and the county. With the expansion and upgrades, he said it will help grow it as a destination to bring in visitors from all over the state.

“We’re very blessed to have this place,” Dolphin said.

The lasting legacy of Jay C. Hormel

While the Nature Center formed in 1971 — several years after Hormel died in 1954 — the Nature Center’s roots trace back to him.

The Nature Center is now about 507 acres, and about 123 of those used to belong to the Hormel estate, as the family had a home and a cabin on the property, which used to be known as King’s Woods. Starting in 1927, the Hormels planted about 200,000 trees on the property. According to Dolphin, the site was nearly developed in the 1960s, but the community decided otherwise.

The city of Austin acquired the property and the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center was formed in 1971.

“I’m glad that the folks before us had the vision to understand what this might mean to future generations,” he said.

The interpretive project is just the latest example of the Foundation continuing to be a partner and funding source for major Austin projects like the interpretive center, the Hormel Institute expansion, Hy-Vee’s plan to buy Oak Park Mall, Vision 2020 and more. Such projects are ones Ray said will make Austin a better place to live in the future.

Ray traced the Foundation’s spirit back to Hormel.

“All are projects Jay Hormel would have been excited about and would have supported,” Ray said.

Nature Center may add full-time employee

The new interpretive center could make for a slightly larger Jay C. Hormel Nature Center staff. There are currently three full-time employees: Executive Director Larry Dolphin, assistant Julie Champlin, and land manager Mike Goetz, along with some part-time workers and annual interns. Dolphin is going to ask for an additional full-time worker. The plan is for the Friends of the Nature Center to fund half of the salary in 2016 and 2017, then a quarter in 2019 before the city takes it over entirely in 2019.

Proposed exhibits and displays for the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center’s new $7-million interpretative center

• Theater featuring a video history of Jay C. Hormel, $150,000

• Jay C. Hormel historical display, $50,000

• Live birds of prey exhibit, $30,000

• Live Minnesota snake and amphibian exhibit, $45,000

• Aquarium on Minnesota fish, $80,000

• Animals of the night, $90,000

• Renewable energy exhibit, $55,000

• Early childhood room with interactive exhibits, $100,000

• Soil and water conservation exhibits, $45,000

• Weather, phenology, climate exhibit, $90,000

• Geological Time-line Exhibit, $65,000

• Prairie/soil plant exhibit, $60,000

• Ecology of the forest exhibit, $55,000

• Endangered species exhibit, $50,000

• Prairie management exhibit, $35,000

Total estimated cost: $1 million