A local conservation authority is breathing new life into an interactive teaching facility in Chatham-Kent.
The Lower Thames Conservation Authority (LTVCA) is rebranding the Children’s Safety Village at CM Wilson Conservation Area as the CM Wilson Learning Centre, ahead of a planned reopening in the fall.
Amanda Blain, the communication, education, and stewardship specialist with LTVCA, said the facility will begin providing conservation education sessions for elementary school students of all ages in September.
“Our main goal is we want kids out in nature. At CM Wilson, we have a great pond [and] we’ve got some forest cover, so we want to get kids out there,” she said.
Blain said there are currently two educators on staff who will be providing conservation education and the LTVCA is in the process of hiring an educator to provide Indigenous education.
The conservation authority is also in active talks with the local fire and police departments in an effort to resume safety programming at the facility.
“So a school could come out and technically do conservation education in the morning and potentially do a safety program in the afternoon,” said Blain.
Both the Indigenous and safety education portions of the learning centre will be offered in the near future, Blain said.
“Hopefully it will be similar to what people remember on the safety side, but also adding the conservation and Indigenous education as well,” she said. “We’re hoping to have all three of those branches up and running soon, but definitely the conservation [programming] for schools, school groups, community groups, anybody who wants to come out.”
Blain said the conservation education offered at the site will be a similar experience to the program currently offered by LTVCA at the Longwoods Road Conservation Area.
“One of our main programs right now is our soil and water quality program, which teaches kids about how to determine soil types,” she said, adding that additional education on birds, insects and water quality will also be offered.
The Children’s Safety Village was previously operated independently by a volunteer board of directors, with support from donors and community partnerships. The facility has been closed to the public since before the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the LTVCA took over operations at the end of last year with the intention of expanding programming.
Those interested in learning more about the new CM Wilson Learning Centre can contact Amanda Blain at amanda.blain@ltvca.ca.