EARTH DISCOVERY CENTER
earth discovery center
ABOUT EARTH DISCOVERY CENTER:
Earth Discovery Center: With an emphasis on the youth, the Earth Discovery Center seeks to enhance environmental education for all ages!
As soon as you walk in, it’s very likely you’ll be greeted by some sort of creature! That might be a snail, or during the summertime, you can even catch the morphing of a caterpillar into a monarch butterfly right at the front desk.
Inside the center you’ll find exhibits and information about native Indiana plants and animals, including aquariums with live native reptiles, fish, and amphibians, taxidermy mounts, and replicas.
Other wildlife educational ambassadors may make appearances at scheduled program times. When you venture outside, you can take in a beautiful view of the reservoir out on the deck or hop on the nearby hiking trails.
Indy Parks naturalists host field trips, public programs, events, and summer day camps.
ADMISSION:
Included with Eagle Creek Park admission
LOCATION:
5901 Delong Road, Indianapolis, IN 46254
CONTACT:
317-327-7148
HOURS:
Tuesday – Saturday
10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday
1:00pm-5:00pm
KEY CONTRIBUTORS TO EARTH DISCOVERY CENTER
EAGLE CREEK PARK FOUNDATION
Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust
City of Indianapolis
Going Green
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
“We find that a lot of kids are really scared of nature — they come here and think they’re going into the jungle! We want them to take a walk in the park and realize that there is nothing dangerous out there. They might find some of these creatures in their own backyard, but they’re harmless and fun to learn about.”
Leah Frenzel, Earth Discovery Center Naturalist
ACTIVITIES + EVENTS
WILDFLOWER WEEKEND
Welcome spring with a weekend of guided hikes and programs to enjoy and learn about the beautiful wildflowers of Eagle Creek Park!
This event takes place in mid-April with a detailed schedule available by mid-March at www.indyparks.org.
CELEBRATION OF NATURE
This annual exhibit showcases local artists and nature-themed paintings, photography, sculpture, wood-carving, and more! Celebration of Nature takes place the first two weeks of December.
PLAN A FIELD TRIP
Call for available times
We have various options for unique learning activities. Please call us at 317-327-7148 or email. Trip scheduling takes place in mid-April with a detailed schedule available by mid-March at www.indyparks.org.
UPDATES FROM FACEBOOK
BUILDING FEATURES
- Geothermal heating and cooling that utilizes local groundwater
- Photocell outdoor lighting
- Native, wildlife-friendly landscaping
- Bike racks
- Carpet made of recycled material
- Eco-friendly bathrooms with motion sensor lighting, faucets, and hand dryers, as well as low-volume toilets
- Revolving front door that helps keep cooled or heated air inside
GEOTHERMAL POND
In 2014, the Eagle Creek Park Foundation contributed $30,000 to supplement a 3Mgives Eco Grant for construction of a geothermal pond behind the Earth Discovery Center.
This allows for large school groups to immerse in an elaborate pond study program to dip-net for frogs and aquatic insects, which adds to their studies in the wet lab.
CLASSROOMS
The Wet Lab Classroom is set up much like a high school science lab with stools and six lab tables, and is a great space for messier field trip activities.
The Dry Lab is a multifunctional open space that is also the home base for summer daycamps.
By utilizing the Exhibit Hall, the Earth Discovery Center can host up to three classrooms simultaneously.
EXHIBIT HALL
The Exhibit Hall is home to some of our live turtles, snakes, and other educational ambassadors, as well as a multifunctional space for field trips, public programs, art exhibits, and seasonal activities and displays.
The walls of this unique space are covered with custom wallpaper artwork featuring several of the native plants and animals found in Eagle Creek Park.
- Recycling containers for plastic, glass, and paper products
- Bio-swale and swirl tank to clean storm water run-off before returning it to the reservoir
- Built on the site of the old ranger station (using previously disturbed land means fewer habitats affected and less land cleared)
- Furniture made of recycled plastic
MEET THE NATURALISTS
Dawn VanDeman
Earth Discovery Center Manager
Dawn is an Indianapolis native who started working at Eagle Creek Park as a seasonal naturalist back in 1994.
She attended Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts where she majored in biology and minored in studio art.
She then moved on to complete graduate work in wildlife science with Purdue University’s Department of Forestry before coming back to work full-time at Eagle Creek Park.
Favorite Things
Her favorite things about the park include the amazing diversity of park visitors, the small, hidden vernal pools teeming with fairy shrimp and baby salamanders in the spring, and the sound of loons (the bird kind) calling on the reservoir. She specializes in amphibians and reptiles, bugs and aquatic invertebrates, growing native plants for butterfly gardening, and loves answering weird questions about Indiana wildlife.
Dawn's Critters
She is also a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and shares her home with six fish, five orphaned baby opossums, three cats, three orphaned raccoons, three orphaned baby squirrels, one yellow-bellied slider, and one rescued domestic rabbit.
Leah Frenzel
Naturalist
Leah grew up in North Carolina where she attended North Carolina State University, and graduated with a degree in natural resources-ecosystem assessment.
After graduating, she was hired as an outdoor environmental educator with the Flat Rock River YMCA in St. Paul, Indiana. She learned to teach children to love nature while exploring the outdoors, and has been doing so ever since.
Favorite Things
She enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities including hiking, identifying insects, and nature photography. As her boss describes, “Leah is awesome and likes to pin dead insects when she isn’t teaching archery or writing environmental education curricula.”