The Irvine Nature Center missed its annual PumpkinFest for two consecutive years because of flooded parking lots and bad weather.
But officials hope plans for a new center on its own 116-acre site, nestled among 1,200 conserved aces in the Caves Valley corridor of Baltimore County, means nothing will stand in the fall event?s way again.
They?ll join local and state officials in a groundbreaking Saturday, trumpeting plans for an exhibition hall that will include a simulated dense forest at night, box turtle habitats to crawl through, a terrapin tank and working beehive.
Officials called the new center a “microcosm” of what it is now.
“I can?t think of a better place for this,” said Jeff Muller, center communications director. “The piedmont has three regions ? woodlands, wetlands and meadows ? and this property has all three.”
“For 30 years, Irvine?s innovative programs have truly brought nature to life for thousands of Baltimore County citizens, and this new facility will broaden their reach and help advance our county?s Green Renaissance,” said Baltimore CountyExecutive Jim Smith, who is expected to be at the groundbreaking.
The center launched a capital campaign, aiming to raise $10.5 million for a 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall, nature store, gardens, classrooms and trails. Irvine has neared its goal and is planning buildings that serve as exhibits of “green” construction features, like a geothermal heat pump and restrooms with waterless urinals.
Once with only one full-time employee and a handful of volunteers, the center now staffs 23 employees and more than 100 volunteers. The few hundred annual visitors has swelled to 16,000, including students in center-led educational programs.
As the center grew, its space shrunk in the late 1990s, when St. Timothy?s School on Greenspring Avenue, which has hosted the center for the past 30 years, entered a financial crisis. To make ends meet, Muller said the school sold about 60 acres, or two-thirds of the center?s space.
BY THE NUMBERS
» Total raised: 6,851,153
» Total needed: $3,648,847
» Total raised for construction and site development: $5,691,955
» Total needed for construction and site development: $1,808,045 remaining
» Total raised for endowment: $1,159,198
» Total needed for endowment: $1,840,802
Source: Irvine Nature Center
