Nature center educates the public about wildlife rehab

The Lake Erie Nature & Science Center in Bay Village is a great place to just step away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and escape into nature. As winter fades away, the flowers will soon be in full bloom and  green will begin to show itself more and more in the trees above. Darci Sanders, the director of education at the center, likes the feeling of home she gets every time she comes to work.
“You feel like you’re walking into an extension of your own home,” Sanders says. “It’s a very warm, welcoming place.”
You can read about the history of the Lake Erie Nature & Science Center in this month’s Uniquely feature. One of the most important services provided by the nonprofit organization is wildlife rehabilitation. The Kenneth A. Scott Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Program takes in about 1,200 injured and ill wild animals each year. The staff does all it can to nurse the creatures back to health so they can go back into the wild. Those who can’t return to the wild become permanent guests at the center.
A place to learn
Another key component of the center is education. There are summer camps, school field trips, family programs and a number of preschool programs. The center has staff trained to work with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts to earn badges and has also developed a curriculum for adult learning.
“It’s a very vibrant place any time you walk in,” Sanders says. “We have Project Wildlife where kids come and learn about our wildlife rehab program and get hands-on training with the animals. We’re starting to offer college-level courses in partnership with Tri-C Westshore Campus here in Westlake. In the fall they do an astronomy course that utilizes the planetarium and I teach a field botany course in the spring and we’re looking at other times of year to do that as well. We’re reaching everybody at some point.”
Sanders and her team regularly review what’s being offered and talk about what’s working and what new courses could be added into the mix.
“What are we missing?” Sanders says. “Is there something we could or should be doing that we’re not right now? How do we offer something we’ve done in a new way that is more appealing to families? We’re trying to be accommodating to busy families and still remain relevant and impactful in all of our mission aspects.”
Mark Scott is Senior Associate Editor for Smart Business Cleveland.