Time Machine: Indian Creek Nature Center marks its 50th year

CEDAR RAPIDS — Indian Creek Nature Center in southeast Cedar Rapids will be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

The idea for a nature center started when Junior League member and conservationist Bette-Barron “B.B.” Stamats visited one in the Twin Cities and brought the idea home.

“I was captivated by the idea of a nature center, and I thought it would be an intriguing and neat thing to do,” she said in 1993.

She and fellow Junior Leaguer Jean O’Donnell brought up the idea at a league meeting, but the other members thought it was a “bigger chunk” than the club could handle, Stamats said.

“Jean and I were totally naive and innocent then,” Stamats said, “but we thought let’s give it a try, and we put our heads together.”

After getting support from the national Natural Science for Youth Foundation, the pair formed a 40-member citizens committee to pursue the idea and raise $150,000.

After considering several sites, the committee settled on city-owned land at Bertram and Otis roads in southeast Cedar Rapids, where the city and Parks Commissioner Stan Reinis offered to lease the tract for $1 a year.

The city had bought the 140-acre wooded site, once a dairy farm, in 1968. Indian Creek ran through the property, and the Sac and Fox Trail cut through it. A tile dairy barn, built in 1932, sat on 6 acres across the road from the woods, at 6665 Otis Rd., and was envisioned as a place for nature exhibits.

In January 1973, the steering committee decided to incorporate as a nonprofit and rely on donations, grants and fundraising for its operations. It established a 24-member board of directors, with Bill Schneider as president, Duane Arnold and Jean O’Donnell as vice presidents, B.B. Stamats as secretary and Bruce Sampsell as treasurer.

It remains Iowa’s only independently owned and operated nature center.

Getting started

Curtis Abdouch, who had worked at the Fontanelle Forest Center in Omaha, was hired as the center’s first director.

He arrived in late 1973 and immediately began making plans. The first activity at the center happened on Groundhog Day, Feb. 2, 1974 — a guided walk through the woods in search of groundhogs or woodchucks.

The nature center’s first half-mile of foot trail opened Aug. 25, 1974, and was called Discovery Trail.

“The loop trail originates near the large barn, meanders through woods and openings, then drops to the flood plain where the confluence of Indian Creek and the Cedar River can be viewed,” The Gazette reported. “The trail then swings back along the east bank of Indian Creek and terminates at the barn. Both natural features and man-made changes on the landscape will be interpreted.”

Barn renovation

Renovation of the Penningroth tile barn began in November 1974 after a capital fund drive.

The exterior gained a small addition but remained basically unchanged. Inside, the lower level was remodeled to hold exhibits, restrooms, a workroom and sales area. The hay loft was turned into a 100-seat auditorium and administrative offices.

In February 1975, the Weyerhaeuser Foundation donated $7,500 to convert the 35-foot silo into an observatory tower. The platform at the top allowed visitors to see the landscape by day and the stars at night. It was dedicated Oct. 26.

The dedication and grand opening of the Nature Center headquarters was held June 1, 1975, and included dedication of the Sac and Fox Trail as a National Recreation trail.

The Indian Creek Nature Center Guild was formed in August 1975, with members hosting a Harvest Fest dinner and weekly craft workshops and also running a gift shop.

December brought “Armchair Adventures,” a series of winter programs at the center.

Patterson arrival

Abdouch left the center in early 1978 to take a job with the National Wildlife Federation.

His successor was Rich Patterson, who had been director of the Dillon Outdoor Education Center in Hutchinson, Kan. Patterson started Aug. 22 and would oversee the nature center’s growth, operations and fundraising for the next 36 years.

When Patterson arrived, the center had a strong group of members and volunteers, with plenty of school-aged youngsters visiting the center each year. But it had no assets, reserve fund or endowment, Patterson told The Gazette in a 2014 interview.

"We had a wheelbarrow and a walk-behind mower," he recalled. "It was hand to mouth for quite some time."

Patterson and volunteers set about restoring the native prairie to the center’s acres, reclaiming wetlands and transforming a brushy woodland into a savanna of trees, grasses and plants. They built a network of trails and planted wildflowers.

In 1989, the center named a pine grove on the nature preserve the O’Donnell/Stamats Grove to honor its founders.

By 1992, visitors to the center numbered 37,000, and Patterson had added a full-time naturalist, a shop and office manager and clerical and maintenance help.

In 2004, the center welcomed its 1 millionth visitor.

Amazing Space, new director

And by the time Patterson retired in early 2014, the Nature Center covered about 300 acres. It had funds in reserve and an endowment.

He moved to an office downtown and started raising money for a new nature center headquarters. United Fire Group and the McIntyre Foundation gave $400,000 toward the capital campaign with the request the new amphitheater by the building be named for Patterson and his family.

John Myers took over as the center’s director and oversaw construction of the center’s new headquarters. The $6.6 million, 12,000-square-foot building — called Amazing Space — opened in 2016 at 5300 Otis Rd. SE, just down the road from the former dairy barn.

In addition to being a beautiful building, Amazing Space is one of the most environmentally sustainable buildings in the country. In 2019, it gained the Living Building Challenge Petal Certification, a designation awarded to only a handful of buildings worldwide that excel in sustainability.

Myers also was on hand in June 2016 when George Etzel and his family donated 192 acres of timber and farmland near Alburnett and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail to the center and set up an endowment to pay for the property’s maintenance. The gift, valued at more than $1 million, was the largest land gift ever received by the nature center, putting a total of 482 acres under its ownership and management.

Myers guided the center during its pandemic closure and the reopening of programs and summer camps and then the massive cleanup after the August 2020 derecho, which destroyed half the nature center’s tree canopy and blocked most of its trails.

“Ecologically, this could be really good for the community,” Myers said as he looked at the derecho damage and new growth on the forest floor. “That doesn't slight the property loss or the emotional connection, but it can help the environment.”

Before the pandemic and derecho, the center saw 82,000 visitors in 2019, from all 50 states and nine countries. It saw a surge in trail usage during the pandemic, and its goal this year is to surpass the number of visitors it saw in 2019.

in 2021, the new Cedar Outlook trail, which overlooks the Cedar River through what remains of the amphitheater’s woods, opened. And a nature-oriented preschool welcomed its first children in fall 2022.

The nature center, now with a $1.8 million annual budget, has 450 volunteers and 28 full-time-equivalent employees. It has 450 members in its Household and Silver Maple Household programs and 200 lifetime members who’ve donated at least $1,000 to the nature center’s endowment.

The center is planning a variety of events this year to note its 50-year milestone, culminating with an Oct. 14 celebration.

Diane Fannon-Langton, who worked for The Gazette 45 years before retiring in 2016, writes the Time Machine history column, published Sundays in The Gazette. Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com

IF YOU GO

What: Indian Creek Nature Center

Where: 5300 Otis Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids

Phone: (319) 362-0664

Cost: Free

Website: indiancreeknaturecenter.org

Celebrating 50 years

The Indian Creek Nature Center has a number of events planned to mark its 50th year:

Kickoff: 10 a.m. Jan. 20, birthday party at Amazing Space, with a song by morning class preschoolers, presentation by Executive Director John Myers and the unveiling of a new painting by a local artist that will be auctioned at the Oct. 14 celebration.

BioBlitz: In June, the nature center will invite the community to become citizen scientists for a week and create a snapshot of the center’s biodiversity to inform future land management projects.

50 Donors for 50 Years: The nonprofit nature center relies on donations and will recognize 50 donors who are investing in the center’s next 50 years.

50th Celebration Event: an Oct. 14 event will offer live music, food and drink from local producers, a live auction and more. Tickets go on sale Jan. 20.

50 Stories for 50 Years: Throughout the year, the center will host a 50 Stories for 50 Years blog series about those who’ve impacted the nature center. Sponsored by New Leader Manufacturing. People also can share their stories about the nature center on its 50th anniversary page.