Kane County nature center proposal draws heat

Should Kane County Forest Preserve District open a nature center right down the road from where the St. Charles Park District plans to build one?

And if it is willing to move the current nature center out of Tekakwitha Woods Forest Preserve in St. Charles, why not move it to a preserve in Elgin or Aurora, the county's two most-populated areas?

These questions and more convinced the district's executive committee Tuesday to send a proposal to hire consultants to plan turning a house into a nature center on the former Felician Sisters retreat property on Dean Street (now known as Creek Bend) back to the utilization committee. It directed that committee to consider other uses for the retreat house, including possibly moving the district's art gallery out of the Campbell House at the Kane County Events Center in Geneva.

Commissioner Don Wolfe of Elgin had heated criticism for the nature center proposal, saying it was not part of the district's five-year master plan.

"We're going to spend $135,000 to see if we can use it as a public structure? It is way out of context. It is way out of order. ... We've taken it (the plan) and shoved it out the window."

The district bought the 86-acre site to the west of Leroy Oakes in 2007 for $7.2 million.

Commissioner Gerry Jones of Aurora criticized the potential placement: "It should be somewhere where we can maximize our exposure to the population."

Other commissioners noted St. Charles is in the middle of the county and the district does offer a "traveling naturalist" program to schools that feel they can't afford a bus trip to Tekakwitha.

Forest preserve staff would like to move the nature center out of Tekakwitha because there is no classroom space there; school groups meet in front of the exhibits. It's also difficult for visitors to find Tekakwitha, located on Villa Marie Road in the Valley View subdivision on the east side of the Fox River off Route 25.

Leroy Oakes has the Pioneer Sholes School and the Durant House Museum, which school groups visit for "living history" programs.

"They could hit all three and make a day of it," said Laurie Metanchuck, director of community affairs and environmental education.