We’re wrapping up Membership Month at the Nature Center, but that by no means means we’re done accepting members! You can become a member of the Nature Center anytime of the year…we just concentrate on new memberships and renewals during March. Nearly every new member asks, “What do I get for being a member?” I always tell them about the reduced price for programs and the 10% discount in the gift shop, but there’s SO much more than that. Here’s what you get…
You get to be part of an organization that is committed to leaving our piece of earth better than how we found it.
You get to support almost 300 acres of land restoration and management work – planting and nurturing native species, cleaning up watersheds, improving water quality, providing “rest stops” for migrating birds and butterflies, creating wildlife habitat and more.
You get to help teach visitors about the many ways to conserve energy, water and other natural resources as they take our “Green Tour” and see how we’ve done it.
You get to support our very talented naturalists engage literally thousands of children in the outdoors, teaching them about bugs and birds, trees, water, early civilizations, eco-responsibility and more. They learn that maple syrup doesn’t come from the grocery store, what a floodplain does, how important honeybees and other pollinators are to the food chain and how every species of life on our planet is dependent on one another. You help “unplug” them from inside and bring them outdoors.
You get to help keep the trails and barn open free of charge to everyone. You keep the trails groomed and safe, you keep the litter picked up, you keep the labyrinth mowed and mellow and you keep toilet paper in the bathrooms. That may not seem like a big deal, but I trust you’ve been in a bathroom at least once when that wasn’t the case. Not good.
You get to help educate children and adults, you get to build beautiful exhibits to awe and educate, you get to produce delicious and beneficial local honey, you get to see otters sliding down snowbanks into the creek, you get to watch majestic bald eagles soaring along the creekside, you get to listen to hundreds of frogs singing in the wetland, you get to relax and re-energize your body and soul, and you get to support a staff who carefully and judiciously manages each dollar we receive.
So, you get a lot more than 10% off in the gift shop…not that that’s not important!