NATURE CENTER DEDICATION WEDNESDAY

A $1.3 million regional service center of the Missouri Department of Conservation will be dedicated here Wednesday.

The facility, which will serve 13 counties in Southeast Missouri and house a staff of 15 department employees, is situated in the Cape County North Park on five acres of land provided by the Cape Girardeau County Commission.

Conservation staff began moving into the center last Monday. The 11,000-square-foot building includes a 1,200-square-foot area designated as a visitor center that will contain displays for public viewing.

A 4,000-square-foot maintenance and storage facility is adjacent to the center.

Permanent displays are being built now but will not be ready for the dedication. Some temporary displays will be in the visitor area for the dedication.

Dennis Steward, manager of the regional office, said Wednesday's 10 a.m. dedication is open to the public. Participating in the ceremony will be the Cape County commissioners, officials from the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, area legislators, officials of the conservation department, members of the conservation commission, and others who have been instrumental in developing the project.

Both Cape County and conservation department officials have praised the cooperation required to get the facility here and stressed it will be an asset to the county park, the department, and the entire region.

Under an agreement signed in June 1989, the county is providing the conservation department with a 99-year lease on the site with an option to extend that lease 99 more years. Should the department ever decide it no longer needs the property, the buildings and improvements would revert to the county.

In addition, the conservation department is given a five-year easement on about 30 acres of land north and east of County Park Drive to be used for nature trails and to make the natural area of the park more accessible.

Steve Wilson, hunter skills specialist in the protection division of the conservation department, explained that a rough drawing of the nature trail will be on display Wednesday. However, it may be revised some once construction starts in the fall, he said.

The center also will have an auditorium/meeting room where programs for the public can be conducted, including hunter education courses.

Literature published by the department also will be available at the center.

The center is on a site where a building once stood that dated back to when the park served as the county poor farm. The building also served as the sheltered workshop and as a nutrition center for seniors.

Several years ago the county commission had the building torn down because of its poor condition.

One picnic shelter and bathroom had to be torn down to make room for the new facilities.