Silversmithing photo by Tara Burns

WBCA In the News

Nature center plans calls for more amenities

Mar 05, 2008

by Kristine Goodrich
Staff Writer

WHITE BEAR TOWNSHIP — County officials hope more amenities and programs will bring more visitors to the Tamarack Nature Center.

A master plan would expand its buildings, parking, children's play areas and trails system, and would include space for the White Bear Center for the Arts.

Approved last summer, community members were invited to an open house late last month to share input as the county moves forward with its planning. While the county seeks grants to help pay for the project, a bonding proposal in the Legislature would provide half the funds needed for the first phase.

According to Ramsey County Parks and Recreation Director Greg Mack, the proposals in the concept plan likely will evolve as further study is completed.

As of now, its key recommendations include:

• Expand the main building, adding more classrooms and exhibit and administrative space. The additions, to the north and south, would add 4,400 square feet on to the existing 6,700-square-foot facility. Screened outdoor classrooms and a prairie overlook plaza would surround the building.

• Add a 5,000-square-foot facility for the White Bear Center for the Arts. The surrounding grounds would become outdoor classroom spaces and a sculpture garden. Artistic elements also will be incorporated elsewhere throughout the nature center, such as on building facades and welcome signs.

• Expand the children's play area and add a children's garden. The play area would include natural materials such as boulders, roots from a large tree and a simulated stream. The garden would include a potting shed and water cistern. A pavilion with restrooms would be adjacent.

• Expanded parking lot will nearly double the existing number of spaces and will have a separated drop-off zone.

• Add a new entrance that aligns with Otter Lake Elementary. This would create a more visible entrance, easier access for Otter Lake students and allow for the drop-off zone. However, it will require acquiring private property adjacent to the center, costing an estimated $500,000.

• Add a new maintenance building for storage and ski and snowshoe rental shop.

• Add a new sugar and cider shack. A new maple sugar bush area will be planted and the existing bush will be transitioned to a sugar maple woodland.

• Build an observation tower overlooking the woods and grasslands.

• Additional trails, including boardwalks, across Teal Pond.

• Build a canopy walk, or dock-like structure, that juts over the trees near the southeast corner of the lake.

• Buy a Tamarack Lake raft, a floating platform docked on the lake's edge that can be launched into the lake.

• Add an orientation hub between the parking lot and main building that serves as the head of several trails and has directory signs.

• Create a large outdoor gathering area, as well as several smaller outdoor classroom areas.

Reasons for, against

"The central purpose of this project is to redirect (Tamarack) away from the traditional role of a nature center toward becoming a regional resource that integrates personal explorations of nature, art, science and the humanities," reads the plan, dubbed "Destination to Discovery."

The report cites research finding children increasingly have less exposure to the outdoors. Providing more amenities and hands-on opportunities rather than simply observation is aimed at attracting greater numbers of young visitors.

However, George Finn, a White Bear Lake resident and frequent nature center visitor, doesn't understand that reasoning.

"To add artificial experiences to attract kids to nature; that just doesn't make sense," he said. "It's potentially going to destroy a lot of what's special at Tamarack."

He and a handful of other users and volunteers who attended an open house last month expressed concerns over the shift from a nature preserve to a more active park.

"There's a whole lot of fluff and wasted expenditures that are going to seriously impact the wildlife," he said.

There will be few artificial elements, according to Mack. The structures will be made from natural eco-friendly materials and raingardens and other measures will manage water runoff and other environmental impacts.

Mack added community feedback has been predominantly positive regarding the new research-based amenities and activities, which he said will foster, not hinder, people's "nature discovery."

"We want to provide multiple ways for people to experience nature," he said.

The redevelopment is occurring on just a small portion of the 320-acre site, Mack said, promising it won't "compromise people's quiet, peaceful opportunities to enjoy nature."

Funding, timeline

Grants from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources and the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences are covering the cost of project planning. The county currently is applying for more grants from state, corporate and nonprofit sources to cover the project itself. Rough estimates put the price tag at about $8.5 million.

White Bear area legislators Sen. Sandy Rummel and Rep. Carol McFarlane are chief authors of a bill to provide $745,000 in state funding — about half the cost of the first phase of redevelopment. That phase is set to include the children's play area and garden, pavilion, new paths and landscaping.

Assuming the funding is obtained, the first phase of the project likely would begin in early 2009, according to Mack. Year two of the five-year phase in is planned to include the maintenance building, sugar and cider shack, gathering area and paths.

Year three projects include the main building additions and adjacent outdoor classroom and plaza. Fourth-year projects include the Teal Pond boardwalks, canopy walk, lake raft and observation tower. The final year projects include the new entry drive and prairie restoration.

The parking lot addition would occur in segments in the first, second and fifth years, with the current parking lot removed the final year.

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