Pilcher Park Grant Funds Nature Center Facelift

Thanks to a $600,000 from the Illinois Public Museum Capital Grant Program, Nature Center is getting a makeover.

"Every surface throughout is replaced," Pilcher Park Supt. Debbie Greene said.

Perhaps the most noticable improvement is the center's new indoor turtle pond, which replaces the one installed in 1992 that had grown dirty and was prone to leaking.

"Turtle ponds are really hard to keep clean," Greene said. "Turtles are just messy by nature."

The new pool will feature design adjustments that should work well for the nature center.

The new pool will have a double liner, with a base below, so it won't leak through to the floor, Greene said. And the pipes to the pond are under the floor, so no matter how much the naturalists stand in the pond to conduct classes and tours, they will not damage it.

Greene said the turtle pond is one of the star attractions at the center.

"We see 15,000 kids and for every kid that comes in here, they get to pet a turtle," Green said.

Those 15,000 children, plus the adults and volunteers, wreaked havoc on the center's wooden floors. They are being replaced with a composite flooring that is easy to clean.

"It will be handle lots and lots of traffic," Greene said. "It just doesn't work to have a wooden floor."

In addition to the interior renovations, the center will have a new pavilion off the back porch. An additional $100,000 grant funded cleaning and resealing the entire outside of the building.