DURANGO NATURE CENTER
2,500 CHILDREN PER YEAR AND GOING STRONG

PRIMARY USE 

During fall and spring of every school year, Durango Nature Studies brings "Children Discovering Nature" to 2,500 children in southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico. Children Discovering Nature, the cornerstone of Durango Nature Studies' educational efforts, is a two-part program that incorporates standards-based classroom and field science learning opportunities.

As participants in this program, students first receive a 60-minute classroom lesson about a natural history topic. One week later, students spend the morning investigating that topic outdoors at the Durango Nature Center. This outdoor exploration is the key to Children Discovering Nature. Small groups of children, guided by trained volunteer naturalists, explore first hand the topics, ideas, and curricula introduced by classroom teachers.

The Nature Center is also open to projects spearheaded by college professors. As a community resource, the Durango Nature Center provides a venue for secondary education exploration. To date, projects include students from Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO, and San Juan College in Farmington, NM.

ABOUT THE LAND 

The Durango Nature Center, near Bondad, was acquired by Durango Nature Studies in June of 1998. As part of the negotiations to acquire the land, as well as the goals of the organization, all of the acreage of the site was placed under under a conservation easement.

The upper 35 acres of the site is comprised of public access and parking area, prairie dog colonies, bird boxes, a children's habitat play space, an ancient ponderosa pine cross-section with marked rings, xeriscaped landscaping, and a sage-rabbitbrush habitat.

A footpath leads visitors down to 105 acres along bordering the Florida River. There, trails wander through a wide variety of habitats - riparian, meadows, oak woodlands, piñon-juniper forests, and desert arroyos. Trails are marked with signs at ending points and junctions, as well as with interpretive markers along the way.

Prior to the Durango Nature Studies' purchase, the land had been used for many things, including a gravel pit on the top 35 acres, oil and gas development on both the upper and lower portions (which are still active), and cattle grazing. There is also an established archeological site.

VISITING THE NATURE CENTER 

The Nature Center is not generally open to the public. Instead, it is used primarily for special events and as an outdoor learning laboratory for our school programs.

In the winter, the Nature Center is closed to allow the land to rest after the fall field season and in preparation for the spring field season. Summers at the nature center are warmer than in Durango, but the Florida River makes the Nature Center an excellent location for summer camps.