Schlitz Audubon Nature Center

Educational programs: the Center offers programs for people of all ages and abilities. We serve about 30,000 children and adults each year through field trips and enrichment programs ranging from summer camps, to yoga, Nature art classes, and our master naturalist course. The Center also offers programming for special needs individuals such as the visually impaired, young cancer survivors and older adults with memory challenges. In addition, we offer the most comprehensive raptor education program in the midwest, with 15 resident birds of prey, members of our permanent family who cannot be released back into the wild. Our feathered ambassadors touched more than 42,000 people live and virtually during the year.

Nature preschool: this primary program service gives early learners (up to age six) access to nature-based experiences. Our Nature preschool, founded in 2003, is one of the first of its kind in the nation. Housed in the Center's gold leed certified building, our preschool is deeply committed to environmental education and active learning for students of all walks of life, including those from the most economically challenged areas of milwaukee.

Land conservation: our 185 acres of forest, wetlands, prairie, ravines, bluffs, and shoreline are at the heart of everything we do. The land is our outdoor classroom and the foundation for our unique educational experiences. Guided by our comprehensive land management plan, our vision is to create a biologically and visually diverse 21st century landscape on this property, which is among the most ecologically important tracts of land in greater milwaukee. In 2020, our conservation staff and volunteer land stewards broke all previous records by planting 415 trees, 602 shrubs and 22,104 herbaceous plugs in conjunction with four major conservation initiatives. Despite contract labor shortages during the covid-19 pandemic, our green facilities and infrastructure staff built two new bridges to provide greatly improved access to the Center's new regenerative stormwater conveyance system. The Center also added 500 linear feet of wheelchair accessible boardwalk.