Nature Centers Near Me in Asbury

Something exciting is always happening at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center. Indoors you'll discover nature through programs, activities and displays. Outdoors, seasonal changes and unpredictable wildlife make each visit an adventure. So come visit our nature center often!

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Surprise a white-tailed deer bedded in a cedar thicket. Smell the fresh scent of the Ozark woods after a rain. Watch an eagle snag a fish from an icy lake. At the Springfield Conservation Nature Center there are trails to walk, exhibits to explore, and videos and programs to enjoy. All year-round, it's the place to experience and learn about the Missouri outdoors.

Nature Center Features:

-Eighty acres of forests, fields and creeks, along with frontage on Lake Springfield.
-Wildlife, including deer, foxes, mink, muskrat, raccoons, squirrels, birds, turtles, frogs, bugs and just about everything else that lives in the Ozarks.
-Nearly three miles of trails, as short as a fifth of a mile, as long as two miles.
-A boardwalk over the marshy shallows of the lake.
-A building containing:
-150-seat auditorium
-classrooms
-restrooms
-exhibits
-information desk
-sales of books, calendars, and fishing and hunting permits
-Regularly scheduled public programs, guided walks and nature films.
-Covered sack lunch area.
-Pull-through bus and RV parking
-Facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities.

The Kemper Outdoor Education Center offers outdoor Team Building programs for groups as young as 5th graders through adults. Groups face multiple challenges that foster communication, cooperation, problem solving, group cohesiveness,  mutual respect, support, conflict resolution, broader perspective, sensitivity to others (especially those a bit different than oneself), effort, excellence, stress management, frustration tolerance, out-of-the-box thinking, strategic planning, risk taking, confidence, and a sense of connectedness to the natural world.

This 100-acre area in Jefferson City features a visitor center with exhibits and live-animal displays, special events, trails, demonstrations, and diverse natural habitats.

At the Runge Conservation Nature Center, come and enjoy the wonders of Missouri's habitats and the fish, forest and wildlife resources found in the Show-Me State. Get acquainted with beauty as we travel from the rugged prairies of the north to the swamplands of the Bootheel.

Facility and exhibits

• 200-seat auditorium, three classrooms, and indoor wildlife-viewing area, library, and 3,000 square feet of exciting exhibits
• All indoor facilities are disabled-accessible
• Pull-through bus and RV parking

About Us:
Shaw Nature Reserve strives to inspire responsible stewardship of our environment through education, restoration and protection of natural habitats, and public enjoyment of the natural world.

History:
Shaw Nature Reserve, an extension of the Missouri Botanical Garden, includes 2,500 acres of natural Ozark landscape and managed plant collections. Located 35 miles southwest of St. Louis in Gray Summit, Missouri, it provides environmental education, ecological research and public enjoyment of the natural world. 

The Nature Reserve was founded by the Garden in 1925 when coal smoke from the city threatened the living plant collections housed at the Garden. Though the orchid collection was moved to the Nature Reserve in 1926, pollution in the city cleared before it was necessary to move the entire plant collection.

The diversity and size of the Nature Reserve, combined with the considerable scientific and educational resources of the Garden, provide a unique opportunity for outdoor education. Besides providing workshops and classes for thousands of children and adults each year, the Nature Reserve serves as an outdoor laboratory for the development and testing of a variety of innovative outdoor programs. More recently the Nature Reserve has become a focus for the study of fire ecology and habitat restoration.

The Nature Reserve features a variety of settings in which visitors may enjoy the out-of-doors. The Pinetum is a 55-acre park-like expanse of meadows studded with plantings of conifers from around the world. In spring it comes alive with thousands of Narcissus and flowering trees. The Whitmire Wildflower Garden is a five-acre concentration of natural beauty in the form of Missouri and eastern U.S. native wildflowers in naturalistic plantings, accented by native grasses, shrubs and trees.

The Shaw Nature Reserve Ecological Reserve contains 13 miles of hiking trails through a full array of Ozark Border landscapes, including floodplain forest, oak-hickory woods, glades, bluffs, tallgrass prairie, savanna and marsh wetlands. The latter three are landscapes which once covered much of Missouri and are being restored or recreated from former farmland in the Nature Reserve.

The Joseph H. Bascom House, an elegant brick mansion, built in 1879 contains a splendid array of exhibits made possible by a challenge grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation. The exhibit, entitled "People on the Land", illustrates the broad environmental and conservation themes so important to the Nature Reserve's mission. more info on the Bascom House

Shaw Nature Reserve has become increasingly popular through the years. To accommodate and encourage growth in visitor attendance and participation in education programs, plans have been made for gradual improvement of existing facilities over the next few years.

The ultimate goal of all improvements will be to further the Nature Reserve's mission of educating visitors about the plants, animals, and ecosystems of the region.

Rockwoods Reservation in western St. Louis County harbors a rich diversity of plant and animal life as well as springs, caves, and rock formations. Cool, moist, north facing ravines and lush creek bottoms contrast with the nearby arid, rocky ridge tops, and south slopes. The terrain is reminiscent of the Ozark hills and, indeed, many plants and animals found in hill country are also found here.

Interpretive signs throughout the area point out special features or demonstration areas, such as butterfly gardening, bird feeding, prairie habitat, mining, and quarrying and the history of lime kilns.