State officials seek outside cash for Cape nature center

The Missouri Department of Conservation is ready to build a $4.7 million nature center in Cape Girardeau County Park North, but the agency is still looking for outside funding for other improvements at the site in order to develop a conservation campus, its director said Friday.

The entire project -- including landscaping, development of a marsh, construction of a 75-seat amphitheater and a replica of a trapper's cabin -- could cost as much as $7.3 million, officials have said. But much of that -- outside of the 20,000-square-foot nature center building itself -- depends on securing private or federal funds, Department of Conservation director John Hoskins said Friday at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee held at the Show Me Center.

With no construction contracts awarded yet, Hoskins said final cost figures aren't known.

But Hoskins said half a million dollars is needed just for landscaping, construction of an amphitheater and a fishing pier at the large lake.

"We need help to pay for these," Hoskins said following the speech.

Seventy-three people attended the event at which Hoskins discussed plans for what the Department of Conservation is calling the Cape Girardeau Conservation Campus.

Hoskins said the campus will be more than just a building with passive indoor exhibits. He said the Department of Conservation hopes to use the campus grounds -- which includes more than 50 acres of forest -- as a teaching tool, including instructing people on how to hunt and fish.

Corporations and conservation groups so far have donated $200,000 to help fund various parts of the project, he told those at the Show Me Center.

The agency is hoping to secure federal funding for two mobile nature centers, one that would be housed in a van and the other in a tractor trailer, Hoskins said. Those two mobile centers could cost $800,000, he said.

Hoskins said the mobile centers will aid in nature education throughout Southeast Missouri. The van would be used to bring nature exhibits to elementary schools and the larger mobile center would be used at regional events and fairs, he said.

Funding also is needed to construct hiking trails at the park. No cost figures have been calculated yet for the trails, according to local Department of Conservation officials.

The Conservation Commission could award a construction contract for the nature center building by the end of the month.

Groundbreaking for the nature center itself is expected to occur in March or April with the project scheduled for completion by fall 2004, Hoskins said.

The building will use recycled materials. The metal roof, for example, will be made from recycled car bodies.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission is issuing $4.75 million in bonds for the project. The state will repay the bonds over 10 years.

County officials have estimated the conservation campus could draw as many as 200,000 visitors annually.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123