An ongoing campaign to raise $8.3 million for improvements at the Chattahoochee Nature Center, a nonprofit nature preserve and education center, has been stalled by the coronavirus pandemic, a director said.
About $4 million has been donated so far but DeAnn Fordham, senior director of development and marketing, said fundraising for the rest will continue, but may take longer to reach the goal.
The Chattahoochee Nature Center opened in Roswell in 1976 and is located on 127 acres of forest and wetland along the Chattahoochee River. The center offers education programs for adults such as the Georgia Master Naturalist program on the local ecosystem, and has classes for all grade levels on wildlife, plants, trees and the environment. The center has about 140,000 visitors annually, said Fordham
The marketing director said plans were to spend more than $5 million from donated funds to improve an aged boardwalk located across from the center’s entrance on Willeo Road and a pedestrian bridge over the street.
“It’s going to become a safety hazard,” said Fordham. “Earlier this year, all the rain we had, it was under water for over two months. The reconstruction we have planned would improve access and overall safety. And we will raise it up a bit.”
In 2004, the Chattahoochee Nature Center’s capital campaign raised $10 million that was later used to build the Discovery Center museum and an outdoor pavilion.
“[The Discovery Center] changed the way we educate and get to the community,” said Fordham. “The only thing there before was a wooden shack that hand taxidermy and you could see some reptiles and a few birds of prey.”
During the teleconferenced Roswell City Council meeting on Tuesday, Mayor Lori Henry commented on the nature center and the difficulty of fundraising during a pandemic. The city is not contributing funds to the capital campaign, according to Fordham.
Staff at the nature enter is preparing for when the shelter-in-place order is lifted, and the eventual start of summer camp.
“We are planning on different ways to do things, said Fordham. “We always have this big area where we bring kids together at the beginning and end of the day but now we are thinking of groups. Fortunately, we do have a lot of space here and we can space people out.”
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