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Nature At Your Doorstep! Campaign for the Guelph Lake Nature Centre
Do you know a Guelph Lake kid - or were you one yourself? Since 1982, the Guelph Lake Nature Centre has offered curriculum-based, hands-on outdoor education programs to more than 600,000 people from Guelph, Wellington County and beyond. These programs are vital to shaping our environmental values and kids' sense of wonder in the world.
The current Centre, located on Conservation Road, was once a single family home. Every year, up to six classes per day visit; with so many people coming through our doors, the building has reached the end of its useable lifespan.
About the New Centre
The new Centre will be located within Guelph Lake Conservation Area, less than one kilometre away. It will do more than just provide a purpose-built place for kids to learn: it will offer our entire community a new environmental hub for active living and nature programs. With the City of Guelph expanding rapidly, Guelph Lake is no longer far away - it's at your doorstep!
The redesign of the new facility maintains an emphasis on accessible outdoor spaces and incorporates the importance of new technology and evolving trends in outdoor education. None of this would be possible without the generous contributions of our donors and the strong support for outdoor education in Guelph and Wellington County.
To date, work completed at the new Guelph Lake Nature Centre and Learning Grounds includes the pollinator gardens, a pond, an outdoor classroom and nature trails. We are currently working to finalize the detailed design of the building with a goal of proceeding to tender the project in the late summer of 2022.
Campaign Highlights
The support of many generous supporters and volunteers is leading us to great success!
"Guelph Lake is such a huge part of our community and our family. It's exciting to see so many community leaders step up and help support the Grand River Conservation Foundation in building this new facility." - Susan Frasson, Honourary Campaign Chair Family
- Happy 100th birthday to the Rotary Club of Guelph! To celebrate this milestone in 2020, the Club has made an outstanding $600,000 Centennial contribution which will support the nature centre, a new astronomy program featuring an observatory and planetarium, and enhancements to the trail network in Guelph Lake. Leading up to the opening the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada will offer experiences that showcase planets, stars and galaxies - a whole new dimension of learning about the outdoors! Check out GRCA's Events calendar for more details and to find out future dates and watch our partnership video to learn more.
- The Centre was the beneficiary of two fund raising events held in fall 2019: the annual River Dinners hosted by The Neighbourhood Group, and the Wellington Catholic District School Board's Bishop's Dinner for Community Needs. Both organizations have longtime ties to stewardship of the environment in our community, each contributing more than $100,000 over time. Thank you!
- Trees and trails at Guelph Lake were at the forefront when Bob Desautels, Founder of The Neighbourhood Group, was honoured for his commitment to protecting our environment in July. Through the #TD Thanks program, the bank will plant trees at the site of the future nature centre and name a trail for Bob's grandchildren.
What's Happening at the Site?
Throughout 2019 and 2020, teams of volunteers blazed a new 850-metre trail in the forest area that will be only steps away from the future Centre. The trail will feature nodes such as a frog pond, forest play area and water features for visitors and students to pause and learn from.
Students enrolled in Conestoga's College's Heavy Construction Equipment Operation program participated in building the road access, bus turnaround and parking lot for the new centre as their year-end project. Watch the video to see big changes!
Other donations include:
- A generous in-kind donation of aggregate for the learning forest trail from The Murray Group
- $350,000 from the Estate of Gil Henderson, a passionate conservationist with a 50-year record of support for GRCA outdoor education and forestry programs as well as agencies such as Ducks Unlimited and the Tim Horton's Charitable Foundation. Gil's contributions were profiled in the July 2017 issue of GRCA Grand Actions.
- $50,000 from Barzotti Woodworking, a longtime Guelph business with a history of supporting their community
- $25,000 from Stantec, who also helped blaze trails at their Stantec in the Community Day in September 2018.
- $10,000 from CVD Engineering, an environmental engineering firm working throughout Southern Ontario
- $2,250 from the AO Smith Foundation, bringing their total contributions to more than $15,000.
If you would like more information or are interested in making a donation, please contact the Foundation.
