What's New at Remington Nature Center
In May 2020, the Remington Nature Center received a $5,000 CARES Act grant through the Missouri Humanities Council to re-design the Children’s Area into a Live Animal Room, primarily showcasing the snakes currently at the facility. As part of the renovation, the room was re-painted, new tanks were purchased, and new shelves were constructed by Josh Swindler and installed by parks maintenance staff. Staff was also able to use a 240-gallon aquarium donated to the nature center in 2019 from another city department.
One of the nature center staff members, Lauren Koester, is a very talented artist and she is painting small vignettes throughout the room which depicts reptiles and amphibians native to Missouri. Now, not only will all but one of our snakes be on display for everyone to enjoy and learn about, the room will also feature Yellow-bellied slider turtles and Pacman frogs. Staff plans to have the room open for visitors next month.
Once the live animal display is complete, staff will turn their attention to an area currently known as the Artifact Room. In 2019, many of the Native American items, which were on loan for display, were returned to the owner at their request. Since this is the location of the bison display, the decision has been made to turn this area into the Prairie Room. One wall will be painted as a life-size mural depicting the native prairie plants which were common in this area before it was settled. It will also include various animal mounts and plant specimens to further illustrate what this area looked like before the founding of St. Joseph. The opening for this area is yet to be determined.