OUR MISSION
We foster environmental stewardship through education, recreation, and conservation.
A MESSAGE TO OUR VISITORS
As the circumstances with COVID-19 continue to evolve, we remain vigilant in our monitoring of the situation
and are dedicated to the health and safety of our undergraduate students, professional staff, volunteers, and visitors.
The Learning Center Barn will remain closed to the public through 2020.
We look forward to providing virtual experiences and materials to allow continued exploration of our grounds and nature in your backyard.
We appreciate your understanding and wish you wellness in nature,
Reserve grounds will remain open for all visitors - dawn to dusk - year round.
Please use social distancing measures and mask wearing when appropriate.
and are dedicated to the health and safety of our undergraduate students, professional staff, volunteers, and visitors.
The Learning Center Barn will remain closed to the public through 2020.
We look forward to providing virtual experiences and materials to allow continued exploration of our grounds and nature in your backyard.
We appreciate your understanding and wish you wellness in nature,
Reserve grounds will remain open for all visitors - dawn to dusk - year round.
Please use social distancing measures and mask wearing when appropriate.
TOP 5 FUN SUMMER ACTIVITIES
Simple yet powerful activities you can do at home, at a park, or at a special spot, like Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, can connect the whole family to the natural landscape. Here are 5 of our favorite summer nature adventures to spark anyone’s curiosity of the world around them.
Favorite WPNR summer spots

Although the Learning Center Barn is closed for the safety of our staff and visitors - check out nature along our trails!
PALMER POND
Meet the frogs, dragonflies, salamanders, ducks, carp and more that call it home. Bring and net to gently explore. Be sure to be kind and respectful of nature at all times.
No fishing or swimming please.
OBSERVATION PLATFORM
Bird from above for soaring vultures and hawks, or catch a view of barn swallows aerodynamic flight.
WETLAND BOARDWALK
Native marshes reside on the Reserve grounds. You can find red-winged blackbirds feeding and perching among the cattails and see the show of the jewelweed in bloom this summer.
HONEY BEE YARD
The wild honey bees that call the Reserve its home can be spied easily through a spotting scope from a safe distance. Observe their activity all summer long!
COLONIAL GARDEN
Interesting heirloom vegetables, native flowers and more show all summer long at the Blockhouse. Stop to see and smell summer’s goodness.
DISCOVER OUR PROGRAMS
Our programs offer families and children wonderful ways to become connected with nature.
Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. – Nathaniel Hawthorne
NATURE EXPLORE CLASSROOM
IS PERFECT FOR SUMMER
Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve has created their Nature Explore Classroom, Nature Playspaces, to allow children to create positive bonds with nature for long hours of unstructured play in areas including: Messy Materials, Music and Movement, Garden, Dirt Digging, Water, Action, Climbing, Sand, and Gathering. Each space offers a real experience with texture, shape, sound, or life that is found within the “walls” of the Reserve grounds.
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SUMMER Wisdom
"You shall see wonders."
~ William Shakespeare
~ William Shakespeare