User:Donlammers/Sandbox/Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center

The Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center (or just Wild Bear) is an environmental education organization founded in 1995 and located in Nederland, Colorado.

History
Wild Bear was founded in 1995 by Nederland school teacher Jill Dreves who wanted to help bring her students outdoors to learn about nature and the environment. Wild Bear began with only 24 students, but by 2010 was serving 4000 people of all ages per year in after school, weekend, and summer programs.

In 2010, after 15 years of operating in the Nederland Elementary School, the organization opened its new 2200 sqft ecology center in downtown Nederland. Because of the higher visibility, Dreves says that the center now gets visitors from all over the world.

Exhibits
Wild Bear has several native ecological exhibits. Including Western Tiger Salamanders, Western Painted Turtles, and a full Arthropod zoo.

Events
In the annual Enchanted Forest hike, held at Mud Lake, families are led through Linnea's Loop trail. During the hike they meet animals of the forest (volunteers in costume). In 2010, the animals included a raccoon, mountain lion, black bear, coyote, and owl.

Wild Bear is also the major sponsor of the Wild Earth Saturday, held at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder annually.

The future
The center hopes to build a permanant home at Mud Lake, where Wild Bear owns 5 acre of land. Although there is no set timeline for the project, plans call for a 8250 sqft solar-powered nature center on the Mud Lake property.