Nature Center Celebrates 10th Year

The Nature Center at Idaho Fish and Game headquarters celebrates its tenth birthday September 29 through October 1 with an activities-filled program. The public is invited; there are no fees to attend. The Nature Center is located at 600 South Walnut. Activities will include fish printing, face painting for kids, beginning casting skills, and bull trout identification. People will be welcome to inspect hatchery trucks and see trout eggs, fry, and catchables. A new 12-minute video showing how fish hatchery operations have changed over the years will be debuted and old photos of "the way we used to do it" will be on display. The feature event will be a historical hatchery exhibit. Staff will constructing an old hatchery, with its associated feed room, rearing room and tool shed. Hourly tours of the outdoor streamwalk area will be conducted each day. Hours are 4-7 p.m. September 29; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. September 30; and 12 p.m.-5 p.m. October 1. The Nature Center draws more than 250,000 visitors each year. It is one of the few, if not the only, large public attraction in Boise that does not charge admission. The Nature Center was constructed as a gift to the state of Idaho in honor of the state's centennial.