PROJECTS AT THE NATURE CENTER

The Nature Center is a perfect learning laboratory for many scientific studies, teacher trainings, and community projects.

If you would like to use the Nature Center for training or research, please contact us to talk about your project.

Below are the current projects at the Nature Center.

Fort Lewis College Archaeological Field School - The Durango Nature Center is home to a Prehistoric Dinetah Gobernador Phase Site. This is a very excting discovery that continues to be excavated by Mona Charles and her students.

Fort Lewis College Biology Department - Field Ecology classes have long-term weather station and water sampling projects going on at the site each spring.

Fort Lewis Geology Department - Geology classes sample water along the Florida River at the site each fall.

Southwest Conservation Corp (SCC) - Durango Nature Studies is a community partner with SCC for several 12-13 year old crews. We also serve as a training site for other adult crews.

Eagle Scouts - The site hosts various projects that are a result of scouts partnering with DNS to obtain their eagle scout badge. The most recent project was the completion of a floating dock in our pond.

Colorado State University - Gradute students conducted a study on boreal chorus frogs based on the large number of frogs at the site. The study involved obtaining cotton mouth swabs for genetic analysis and recording audio samples.

Colorado Breeding Bird Atlas - Because of our excellent riparian habitat, field studies were conducted at our site for the atlas. Findings included 42 species, including three that had not been seen before in the area. Click here to learn more about the bird atlas.