On Saturday, September 24, 2024, approximately 60 people bedecked in hard hats and high-visibility personal protective gear gathered at the site of the future Wild Bear Nature Center to celebrate the building’s progress and the dream that inspired it.
The crowd that gathered in the late-summer heat—mostly made up of Wild Bear staffers and donors who have helped raise funds for the new nature center—stood outside of the gigantic steel, concrete, and plywood structure to receive a tour of the building and a rundown of its future functions. In the middle of the gathering stood Jill Dreeves, Wild Bear’s founder and Chief Vision Officer.
Dreeves founded the non-profit Wild Bear nearly 30 years ago with the dream of sharing her love of nature with children through immersive education. She dreamt of constructing an all-inclusive nature center meant to educate people about Colorado’s ecosystems and wildlife, and to get children outdoors and into nature. Now, she says, that dream has nearly come true.
“We are all nature,” Dreeves observed. “Everybody is on this planet trying to survive, right? So, my belief is that we’re all in this together, we all have to help each other. And, you know, be as kind and thoughtful as we can be, and to make sure that everybody can access all of the great things that you know, especially what we’re offering.”
The nature center, located near Mud Lake Open Space just off County Road 128W, will be free to the public while also offering the opportunity for more immersive tuition-based educational programs for children, and fee-based adult and family workshops, destination school field trips, weddings and corporate retreats, and community organizing events.
“I don’t know who will preserve the Earth if there’s no relationship with the Earth,” Dreeves stated. “I think about what our community did to preserve [Mud Lake Open Space], and then to clean it up. We removed 30 tons of trash, seven and a half roll-off dumpsters.”
What’s more, Dreeves added, the center will be all-inclusive – meaning that people with disabilities will be able to enjoy the facility’s offerings. Students from Title 1 schools, which aim to give kids from disadvantaged and low-income communities more opportunities, will be able to attend the center’s classes free of charge.
“Nature needs us, and we need nature,” she shared with a smile. “Just having a place where kids can just run and play in the dirt, and parents aren’t saying, ‘Don’t touch that, come in, you’re dirty.’ It’s just getting people to kind of accept that reality of childhood and that we shouldn’t hurry kids out of childhood.”
The building itself is meant to serve the community. From its front doors, people will have access to nearly 3,000 acres of open spaces, with stunning views of the Indian Peaks and surrounding ecosystems. It will be completely powered by renewable energy and serve as a resiliency hub for the town of Nederland, meaning that, in the event of a power outage, wildfire, or severe winter storm, people from the community can come to regroup, recharge their devices, and get out of the elements.
Dreeves said that she and Wild Bear’s Board of Directors hope that construction on the center will be completed by the end of 2025.
“The trusses aren’t up yet, but they’ll be up next month, and then we’ll have the windows in and the corrugated steel,” Dreeves stated enthusiastically. “Then our next stage is the renewable energy campaign, and then all the interior finishing, like getting the stairway done, finishing out the elevator, then all the drywall, all the walls, the lights, and the kitchen. So that will take us through 2025.”
Dreeves said that so far, one of the biggest challenges the center has faced has been budgeting.
“I think once you pull prices and contractors and materials and you get real budget numbers, that’s when you know what your budget is. That’s why they call it a ‘projected budget,’ because you don’t really know. And so we had a lower budget, and then it went way up.”
Wild Bear needs to raise $14 million in order to finish construction. The COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing supply chain issues put a damper on the center’s progress. However, Dreeves confirmed that the organization has already raised $8 million with the help of major donors from throughout the community.
“We raised $8 million from a story and a hole in the ground. Donors appreciate knowing that when they give, they can trust you will meet the goal. We are doing just that.”
If you would like to schedule a hard-hat tour of the nature center construction site, go to gowild.wildbear.org.
