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Akron facility will get new exhibits, environmentally friendly features
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Monday, Aug 04, 2008
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County will close its Seiberling Nature Realm this fall for 12 months of renovations.
When the underground building reopens in late 2009, it will include new exhibits and environmentally friendly features. The grounds also will look a little different.
The park district will share its plans with the public at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the nature center, 1828 Smith Road, Akron.
''We've been working on this project for over two years,'' said Maureen McGinty, chief of interpretive programming and education for the park district. ''We're excited to share our plans with the public.''
In November, the lobby and the restrooms of the Nature Realm, which gets about 65,000 visitors a year, will be the only part of the building open to the public.
On Dec. 1, it will close completely and there will be times when the 104 acres around the building also will be closed.
The park system has earmarked $646,000 for the new exhibits and is working with Split Rock Studios in St. Paul, Minn., in designing the new interior look, McGinty said.
The current exhibits are 17 years old and need to be replaced, she said.
The forest exhibit is being scrapped, and part of the pond exhibit will be recycled and reused. The glass-walled alcove where people can watch birds and animals at feeders will remain.
A new watershed exhibit is planned. The park district's live and stuffed animals will be featured more prominently.
Environmental tips and local eco-heroes will be featured on what will be called the Green Wall.
Interior walls will be removed to open up the 10,000-square-foot building. A small deck overlooking Seneca Pond will be added, along with a fireplace. That space will be used for park programs.
There also will be new and interchangeable elements to help keep the exhibits fresh, McGinty said.
What is envisioned is a nature center that is a gateway to the trails and the outdoors — not a destination-type nature museum, she said.
The building will get solar and geothermal features, and recycled materials will be used.
The auditorium, offices for eight staff members, kitchenette, library, darkroom, storage space, a small gift shop and restrooms will remain.
The park district feels that the grounds should be more native and more natural, McGinty said.
The herb garden will remain, along with the popular trails (Cherry Lane, Seneca and Fernwood), but non-native exotic plants in the aging arboretum may be replaced with native ones, she said.
''We're not going to bulldoze anything,'' park landscape architect Lisa King said. ''We're going to be sensitive to people's concerns . . . and try to keep as much as possible.''
Butterfly gardens and rain gardens with water-loving plants might be added to show the public how such elements can be added in their yards to help Mother Nature, McGinty said.
A new entrance from the parking lot to the building is planned to make it more accessible to wheelchairs.
The building for park volunteers will be razed, and the volunteer office will be moved to Sand Run Metro Park. A picnic pavilion for school groups might be added at that site, McGinty said.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County will close its Seiberling Nature Realm this fall for 12 months of renovations.
Get the full article here.
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