Facility
The Pine River Nature Center building is a 5,000-square-foot, log-style structure. It opened in April 2003.
Building features
Nature displays
A large exhibit room has many things to see and touch. It's a great way to discover nature. The room features a variety of nature displays including furs and taxidermy from St. Clair County and the north woods.
The room also contains several live animals including:
- Eastern Box Turtles
- Great Lakes Fish Aquarium
- Ball Python
Viewspace Exhibit
The Viewspace exhibit provides updates on astronomical events, monthly constellations, and the latest research in astronomy. It is broadcast live from NASA's Space Telescope Science Institute.
Classrooms
The basement of the nature center lodge is used for classroom instruction. It contains a classroom and wet lab. A ceiling mounted digital projector can be used for multimedia presentations. The classroom capacity is 40 students.
A wet lab area is ideal for hands-on science investigations. In addition, the nature center has stereo-microscopes which students can use to examine specimens.
Beehive display
An observational beehive with 15,000 bees has windows through which visitors can watch such daily hive activities as the honeycomb being built up, bees hatching, pollen being brought in and communication dances between bees. The Pine River Beekeeping Club monitors and cares for the hive. Staff at the nature center use the hive as a teaching tool.
Building hours
Monday – Thursday
8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Friday
8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.