The Watershed Center

“Every drop of rain that falls is precious-a resource to be safegaurded, not wasted.” That is the philosophy of the Watershed Center, where there will be myriad opportunities to see, feel and touch water protection demonstrations, discuss aspects of sustainable design and living, work with other people who care about water, examine working examples of water conservation and green building features, and learn how every person can take responsibility as a curator of our precious water supply. In short, we want to connect people to their watersheds. Pictured is an architectural rendering of the Watershed Center

The Watershed Center is being created at Valley Water Mill Park, a publicly owned site on the north edge of Springfield. This 100-acre parcel is of great geologic and historic interest. It contains a prominent fault zone where streams sink into underground channels. It was the site of a grist mill before the Civil War. And it contains a wide vari ety of natural and man-made features, including a seventeen-acre lake, wetlands, spring-fed stream, caves, sinkholes, glades and forests. To take advantage of these natural features, a 2 1/2 mile walking trail loops around the entire site, connecting the five major outdoor classrooms or “learning stations,” at the spring, wetland, lake, forest and stream. These offer excellent opportunities to get kids and adults outside for some exciting, hands-on learning about our precious water resources. Pictured is an architectural rendering of the Watershed Center

Assisting the Watershed Committee with the development of the Watershed Center is the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department, which has constructed an education and maintenance building at the site,complete with a vegetated “living wall” and ”living green roof”. The Parks Department will provide maintenance and outdoor initiatives programs as part of the Watershed Center. Other major partners include City Utilities of Springfield (the landowner), the city of Springfield, Greene County, Natural Resources Conservation Service, EPA, Greater Ozarks Audubon, Ozark Greenways, the Springfield/Greene County Library District, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Missouri Depar tment of Conservation, Missouri State University, Drury University, and Springfield Public Schools. As you can see, this is truly a collaborative effort. Through the use of various grants, project partners have built trails, excavated 14,000 cubic yards of sediment from the old reservoir, restored about two acres of wetlands, built fishing piers and recycled plastic boardwalk and trials, built outdoor classrooms, completed archaeological, environmental and ecological evaluations, and developed a solid business plan for the Watershed Center.

The last leg of the journey is to raise the remaining funds (about $250,000) to complete this $5.5 million project. These remaining funds are needed to build our demonstration parking lot, outdoor bathrooms and cistern.

The 4,200 square foot “green” building will include meeting spaces, water quality laboratories, rainwater harvesting for flushing toilets and landscape water, a teacher resource center and office facilities . Click HERE to view the floor plan

***BIG NEWS***

Construction of the main Education Building and Demonstration Parking Lot began June 2010!

In order to keep within the project budget, the Watershed Committee has deleted the following components from the initial phase of construction. Each of these items is important, and the intent is to add as many of them back into the project as additional funding will allow. Each of these components could also represent a naming opportunity.

Click HERE to see how you can help!

Contributions are tax deductible
Click HERE to download the PLEDGE CARD.

You can also donate online, just click on the DONATE tab at the top of the page

Watershed Center Project Partners

Watershed Center Donors

For an in-depth project history, open this link: Watershed Center Project History