NATURE CENTER CONSTRUCTION ON SCHEDULE

CAPE GIRARDEAU - Construction of a nature center and regional headquarters for the Missouri Department of Conservation is moving along and on schedule for a June 30 completion.

Roy Hansen, project architect for the department, explained that, after four months of work, the project is moving along well.

Hansen noted that Sides Construction Co., general contractor for the project, was doing a good job. "They did an excellent job working through the bad weather and were able to get concrete poured when weather was good," he said.

"Barring any unforeseen problems, I don't anticipate any difficulty getting done on schedule."

The facility is being constructed in the Cape County North Park, on land donated by the county commission to the department. Work on a 4,100-square-foot maintenance building is to the point where the building is enclosed. The 10,300-square-foot nature center and office is not quite to that point.

When the facility opens, it will have a 1,600-square-foot auditorium and about 2,000 feet of space devoted to a visitor center. Another 4,600 square feet will comprise offices that will house staff from the various divisions of the conservation department.

The county commission agreed to make five acres available to the conservation department two years ago as a way of bringing a state facility to the area.

Cape County Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep said he believes the nature center will attract visitors from around the area, as well as provide a few permanent jobs.

In recent years, the conservation department has been moving toward combining regional offices and nature centers.

As part of the agreement, the department will also design a trail in the park through a natural area. A parking lot, where the trail will start, is included in the current construction contract.

The actual design and construction of the trail will be done by the conservation department.

Dennis Steward, regional supervisor for the department, said he met last week with a landscape architect in the forestry division to look over the area. "We tried to plan out, at least on a preliminary basis, where the trail might be in the park," he noted.

Later this month, another meeting will be held to work on final plans.

Steward stressed, however, that they would soon meet with the county commission for its input and that any final decisions on trail design rests with the commissioners.

Steward said it is possible there might be one short loop trail developed near the nature center and a longer trail of about a mile that would be developed in a wooded area of the park.

So far, no decision has been made on whether it will be an interpretive trail.

Work on the trail may start this spring, and Steward said they are hoping to have it ready by the time the nature center opens.

Steward added that he has also had some preliminary discussions with conservation department staff about the type of exhibits that will be set up in the nature center.

One likely theme of some exhibits, he said, "is that Cape is sort of a crossroads for several different topography types - the Mississippi River hills, Ozarks, and Bootheel bottom lands. We want to try and incorporate those different land types into the exhibit areas."