Getting in touch with nature on Earth Day

Forget cougar sightings. In Elk Grove Village Sunday, there were confirmed sightings of an 8-foot Burmese python, two tortoises and an alligator.

The curious thing was, no one was scared -- in fact, they asked for it.

In celebration of Earth Day, the Elk Grove Village Park District's first nature center, The Olmstead Nature Shack, opened its doors to visitors -- and animals -- for the first time.

The Olmstead Nature Shack, at 280 E. Cypress Lane in Olmstead Park, will be open on select Sundays through the summer and features several activities for children to learn all about nature as well as opportunities for families to camp out and watch a movie under the stars.

In the new nature center, visitors can see a working bee hive, a recycling exhibit, the life cycle of plants and a reptile habitat to name a few.

Sunday's event went all out. Children squealed while touching or sitting on a 15-year-old African spurred tortoise named Tank, while adults cringed at the sight of some kids getting cozy with an 8-foot-long, 80-lb. albino Burmese Python named Blondi.

Others built their own bird houses or watched a beekeeper presentation.

Through surveys, park district employees learned that residents wanted a nature center, so they decided to use the warming house of the park's ice skating rink as a nature center.

Around the same time, a nonprofit group called Health World, which ran the JFK Health World Museum in Barrington, had to close its doors. Luckily for the village, the group offered to donate several of its exhibits to the park district.

"It was perfect timing," park district Youth & Teen Coordinator Noreen Newton said. "It was supposed to happen, I think."

In Earth Day style, the park's exhibits and attractions focused on recycling and conservation -- offering residents a chance to learn how to cut down on their energy consumption, choose a free tree and touch the animals.

"We want to show people what they (animals) look like, and hopefully, they will appreciate them more," Stillman Nature Center Director Mark Spreyer said while holding the center's screech owl.

Fielding questions about the owl's diet and going into detail about how an animal that can't sweat releases its body heat, Spreyer, who is also an instructor at the College of Lake County, stressed the importance of the increasing need to coexist peacefully with nature.

"In this virtual world, the content lies with images and not reality. There still is a place, I hope, to see the real thing," Spreyer said.

The nature center will be open all summer and will feature several programs like family campfires and movies by moonlight. To learn more about the Olmstead Nature Shack or to find out how you can volunteer, visit the park district's Web site, www.elkgroveparks.org, click "Parks & Facilities" then click "Olmstead Nature Shack."

There is a $1 suggested donation per person to visit the Nature Shack. Program prices vary.