This is a list of nature centers and environmental education centers in the state of Washington.
| Name | Location | County | Region | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adriana Hess Audubon Center | University Place | Pierce | Puget Sound | located in Adriana Hess Wetland Park, operated by the Tahoma Audubon Society |
| Camp Long (Seattle, Washington) | Seattle | King | Puget Sound | operated by the City of Seattle, 68 acres, park and nature center, environmental education and rock climbing classes |
| Carkeek Park | Seattle | King | Puget Sound | 216 acres, operated by the City, center open for programs or rentals only |
| Cedar River Watershed Education Center | North Bend | King | Puget Sound | regional education facility about the Cedar River watershed, located on Rattlesnake Lake, operated by Seattle Public Utilities |
| Coastal Interpretive Center | Ocean Shores | Grays Harbor | Southwest | hands-on natural history museum, also exhibits about culture of coastal living, geology |
| Dash Point State Park | Federal Way | King | Puget Sound | 398 acres, nature center opened in 2012 |
| Discovery Park | Seattle | King | Puget Sound | 534 acres, operated by the City, features the Discovery Park Environmental Learning Center |
| Dungeness River Audubon Center | Sequim | Clallam | Olympic Peninsula | located in Railroad Bridge Park |
| Feiro Marine Life Center | Port Angeles | Clallam | Olympic Peninsula | aquarium and marine environmental education and conservation |
| Forest Learning Center | Mount St. Helens | Skamania | operated by Weyerhaeuser, exhibits on the eruption of Mount St. Helens, forest recovery, reforestation and conservation of forest resources | |
| Fox Island Nature Center | Fox Island | Pierce | Puget Sound | 5 acres, operated by the community |
| IslandWood | Bainbridge Island | Kitsap | Puget Sound | 255 acres, outdoor learning center |
| Lake Hills Greenbelt Ranger Station | Bellevue | King | Puget Sound | An educational visitor center that provides information, environmental programs, p-patch garden plots, master gardener demonstration gardens, and interpretive displays. |
| Lewis Creek Park Visitor Center | Bellevue | King | Puget Sound | Multipurpose interpretive center provides visitors with Bellevue Parks and regional system information, family programs and recreational opportunities. |
| Marine Life Center | Bellingham | Whatcom | Puget Sound | operated by the Northwest Discovery Project, aquarium and marine environmental education, owned by the City |
| MaST - Marine Science and Technology Center | Des Moines | King | Puget Sound | Marine laboratory and education center for Highline Community College, open to the public on Saturdays |
| Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center | Bellevue | King | Puget Sound | A collaboration between the City of Bellevue and the Pacific Science Center. Family ranger programs and curriculum based school and group programming focusing on freshwater wetland ecosystems and their importance to the region. Visitor's center has interactive, interpretive exhibits about Mercer Slough's 320 acre wetland habitats. |
| Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge | Olympia | Thurston | Puget Sound | 3,914 acres, visitor center exhibits, environmental education programs |
| Nisqually Reach Nature Center | Olympia | Thurston | Puget Sound | education and research about the environment of the Nisqually Estuary of the Nisqually River |
| North Cascades Environmental Learning Center | Whatcom | Puget Sound | field campus in North Cascades National Park, operated by the North Cascades Institute on Diablo Lake | |
| Northwest Trek Wildlife Park | Eatonville | Pierce | Puget Sound | 723-acre wildlife park with tram and walking tours, nature discovery center, zip line course, 5 miles of nature trails |
| Orkila Outdoor Environmental Education Center | Orcas Island | San Juan | San Juan Islands | Run by the YMCA of Greater Seattle. Campus covers 283 acres. Outdoor Education classes focusing on marine and terrestrial ecology for regional schools. Includes Marine Salmon Center containing touch tank, small aquarium tanks, and 18,000 gallon saltwater display tank. |
| Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve | Mount Vernon | Skagit | Puget Sound | Features the Breazeale Interpretive Center with natural history exhibits |
| Port Townsend Marine Science Center | Port Townsend | Jefferson | Olympic Peninsula | located in Fort Worden State Park, marine ecology, local marine and shoreline habitat, history, flora and fauna |
| SEA Discovery Center | Poulsbo | Kitsap | Puget Sound | aquarium and environmental education center |
| Seward Park | Seattle | King | Puget Sound | 300 acres, operated by the City, features the Seward Park Environmental & Audubon Center |
| Skagit River Bald Eagle Interpretive Center | Rockport | Skagit | Puget Sound | located in 103-acre Howard Miller Steelhead Park, focus is the Skagit River ecosystem with an emphasis on the winter migration of bald eagles and salmon |
| Stillwaters Environmental Center | Kingston | Kitsap | Puget Sound | 8 acres |
| Tacoma Nature Center | Tacoma | Pierce | Puget Sound | 71 acres, operated by Metro Parks Tacoma |
| Water Resources Education Center | Vancouver | Clark | Southwest | operated by the City, management of drinking water |
| West Valley Outdoor Learning Center | Spokane | Spokane | Eastern | teaching and learning facility for students and their teachers about fish, wildlife and natural resources, monthly open house days |
Washington Crossing State Park is a 3,575-acre (14 km2) New Jersey state park that is part of Washington's Crossing, a U.S. National Historic Landmark area. It is located in the Washington Crossing and Titusville sections of Hopewell Township in Mercer County, north of Trenton along the Delaware River. The park is operated and maintained by the New Jersey Division of Parks and Forestry. It is supported by the Washington Crossing Park Association, a friends group that works to preserve, enhance, and advocate for the park.
Environmental education (EE) refers to organized efforts to teach how natural environments function, and particularly, how human beings can manage behavior and ecosystems to live sustainably. It is a multi-disciplinary field integrating disciplines such as biology, chemistry, physics, ecology, earth science, atmospheric science, mathematics, and geography.
Jennings Environmental Education Center is a 300-acre (121 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Brady Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is 12 miles (19 km) north of Butler at the intersection of Pennsylvania Route 8 and Pennsylvania Route 528. The center contains a relict prairie of 20 acres (8.1 ha), the only publicly protected prairie ecosystem in Pennsylvania. Big Run, a tributary of Slippery Rock Creek, flows through Jennings Environmental Education Center, and it shares a border with Moraine State Park to the south.
A nature center is an organization with a visitor center or interpretive center designed to educate people about nature and the environment. Usually in a protected open space, nature centers often have trails through their property. Some are in a state or city park, and some have special gardens or an arboretum. Their properties can be characterized as nature preserves and wildlife sanctuaries. Nature centers generally display small live animals, such as reptiles, rodents, insects, or fish. There are often museum exhibits and displays about natural history, or preserved mounted animals or nature dioramas. Nature centers are staffed by paid or volunteer naturalists and most offer educational programs to the general public, as well as summer camp, after-school and school group programs. These educational programs teach people about nature conservation as well as the scientific method, biology, and ecology.
Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is located near the city of Buffalo in the Town of Cheektowaga in Erie County, New York, USA. Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve is a 292-acre (118 ha) forested complex that also includes wetlands and ponds, located within a developed suburban area. The nature preserve also features an environmental education center.
Modern environmental education in the United States began to take shape in the late 19th century with the Nature Study movement, which grew out of efforts to promote the field of natural history by naturalists including Harvard professor Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) and Anna Botsford Comstock, whose Handbook of Nature Study was published in 1911.
The Howard County Conservancy is a non-profit land trust that operates a nature center in Woodstock, Maryland. Founded in 1990, the center is located at the historic 300-year-old, 232-acre (0.94 km2) Mt. Pleasant Farm, and also maintains an additional nature center at the nearby Belmont Manor.
Nurture Nature Center (NNC) is a science-based education center focused on engaging the public on environmental risk topics. NNC is located in the city of Easton, Pennsylvania, roughly 55 miles north of Philadelphia and 70 miles west of New York City. It was founded by Theodore W. Kheel in response to flooding in 2004, 2005, and 2006 in the Delaware River Basin. The center's work today encompasses both national social science research and local community programming.
