Nature is a powerful teacher. When we immerse ourselves in nature, it stimulates our creativity and imagination to a whole new degree.
When did you last stop, breathe and appreciate the great outdoors? There was a time when being a kid meant staying outside until dark. It meant coming home with a new rip in your jeans and muddy fingers, eyes sparkling with a day’s worth of adventures to share.
We can help our community rediscover the great outdoors through the Connect Campaign. This initiative is the driving force behind the construction of a new Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek. Here you can plug back into nature through hands-on activities, including natural programs that promote experiential learning, appreciation of nature and a healthy lifestyle.
The New Nature Centre
At a Glance:
Approximate $6 million project
Grand opening in 2024
Welcome to the region’s premier destination for experiencing and learning about nature!
In 2024, we will open the new Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek, a place unlike any other where you can become inspired by the wonders of the natural world and learn about your role in preserving it for future generations.
From exploring a hiking path and trailblazing through the woods, to learning to work together and discovering a fantastic insect, the new Centre will be a place for all of us to get active outside and to reconnect with nature.
With additional capacity for captivating hands-on workshops and events, the new Nature Centre will help cultivate a newfound sense of environmental responsibility and demonstrate the importance and necessity of preserving our precious green spaces.
The new Centre will be an immersive natural experience, blurring the lines between indoors and outdoors by incorporating the latest innovations in sustainable design and construction.
By joining the Connect Campaign you can help build a new environmental hub where our entire community—young and old—will have the opportunity to reconnect with nature once again!
The Old Nature Centre
At a Glance:
Since the 1980’s, the Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area has been the anchor of the region’s outdoor environmental education.
Generations of students can fondly recall their first trip to Scanlon Creek. For thousands of schoolchildren, it was the highlight of the year and the catalyst that encouraged a healthy respect for nature and its role in everyday life.
And now, after decades of use, it’s painfully evident that we’ve outgrown the existing centre. “Cozy” has turned into “cramped”, “outdated” has become “obsolete”, and we can no longer maintain the lofty standards that we expect from our educational programs.
The time has come for a new building that will carry the torch further!
Nature Centre Virtual Tour
Take a self-guided tour and see it for yourself!
We invite you to take a look around the current Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek. Move your mouse around for the full 360 degrees experience and click on the white “i” buttons for more detailed information for each space/location. Be sure to visit all 10 views/rooms. At the end of the tour we reveal the location for the new Nature Centre.
Current Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek Conservation Area
2021 Connect Campaign Update
Learn about the progress of the campaign and how we’re moving forward, despite a slight set-back due to COVID-19.
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority’s new CAO, Rob Baldwin shares the latest updates on the Connect Campaign to build a new Nature Centre at Scanlon Creek in this video released September 27, 2021.
Learn about next steps for the Connect Campaign.
What’s New
Connect Campaign reaches $2 million dollar milestone
Wow, what a great way to finish off 2021 and start 2022. Together, we hit another major milestone with two million dollars raised, thank...
Donor Support is Through the Roof
Now we have to build it... As we reflect on the Connect Campaign this year, we are so grateful for the generous support of our Donors....
Final Design Architect is Hired
Plans for the new nature Centre are underway. After a highly competitive RFP process, Gow Hastings has been selected as the...
Donor Spotlight
A big thank you to DG Group who has given the largest donation to date!
As community builders in the watershed we feel a significant sense of responsibility to ensure that those communities thrive, long after the last home has been built. That’s why we’re tremendously proud to have made a transformative gift in support of the new Nature Centre. We’re looking forward to seeing the excited faces of the first kids to walk through the doors when the building opens in 2022.
— Darren Steedman, DG Group
Photo L to R: York Region Chairman Wayne Emmerson, Brad Rogers, Lisa Spinks, Joanne Barnett, Mike Walters, Darren Steedman, Sam Balsamo, Cheryl Taylor, Simcoe County Warden George Cornell
View Connect Campaign Donors
Nature Builder
DG Group
Nature Ambassador
Kerbel Group/Andrin Homes/Lakeview Homes in Honour of Edythe M. Hall
Paul Bailey – Bazil Developments
The Dalt Hicks Foundation
Treasure Hill
United Soils Management Ltd. – Tiny Seedlings
Nature Connector
Alectra
Bradford Greenhouses
Calibrex Development Group
DV Bell Foundation
Gwilllimdale Farms Ltd.
Groundswell Urban Planners
Joseph and Najet Dableh Family Foundation
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority Employees
King Cole Ducks
Redwood Properties
The Rose Corporation
The Sarjeant Co. Ltd.
Nature Lover
Anonymous
Ballymore Homes
Debby Beatty
Helen McCrea Peacock Foundation
Lormel Homes
Mosaik Homes
Ryan & Theresa Chieduch
Schaeffers Consulting Engineers
The Acorn Development Corporation
The Conzelmann Family
Virginia Hackson
Wood-Hall Family – Tribute to Edythe M. Hall
Wycliffe Thornridge Sharon Corners Limited
Yorkwood
Nature Leader
Anonymous
Anonymous
Alcona Capital Properties Inc.
Al Steedman
Cheryl Shindruk
Cheryl Taylor
Dave & Erika Kerwin
Fieldgate Land Development
Gervais Development
Joanne Barnett – Tribute to Stella and William Barnett
Kelly Kearns
Lina Bigioni
Lisa Spinks
Lorne Udaskin
Marvin Geist
The Steedman Family
Wayne Emmerson
