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Reston nature center slated for fall 2009
After seven long years of fund-raising, Reston will finally get its nature center.
Thanks in part to an anonymous $300,000 donation that put the total fund-raising goal of $1.5 million within reach, the center is expected to be completed by fall 2009, a little more than one year from now.
The center's current price tag of $1.5 million is more than twice the original one.
A 2001 referendum showed that 70 percent of voting members supported the project and gave the Reston Association the go-ahead to pursue building the Nature House. That year, the goal was only $700,000.
"Since 2001, a lot happened with the building prices; it's been kind of sad to watch," said Katie Shaw, executive director of Friends of Reston.
Friends of Reston was established in 1999 to support the Reston Association in charitable and scientific efforts. Shaw said Friends of Reston considers the Nature House its "flagship" project.
"I have been fund-raising for so long that my nickname changed from 'Katie, Katie the nature lady' to 'Katie, Katie the fund-raising lady'," Shaw said. "I will be happy to go back to being the nature lady."
The Nature House, a 4,800-square-foot, two-story, LEED-certified building, will enable Reston Association to offer nature education and camps year-round and to more than 5,000 additional Reston children and adults each year.
The Nature House will be sited within the Walker Nature Education Center, just off Glade Drive, between Crows Nest Lane and Soapstone Drive. It will replace the current seasonal storage/restroom structure.
Shaw said the Nature House will blend aesthetically with the natural characteristics of the site.
The landscaping will include a courtyard garden that incorporates water and trellises interlaced with native flowering vines. From the exterior, the Nature House will resemble a residential home with a gabled roof line, wood siding and a chimney.
On the inside, the facility will house a multipurpose room capable of holding 60 people for classes, retreats and guest speakers. The facility will also have a public resource room with a nature observation area, a library and displays, indoor restrooms, a computer learning station, workspace for staff and a basement for storage.
Shaw said the center is going for "gold" status within the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED) certification, a third-party certification program sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.
The LEED program certifies buildings at four levels: standard, silver, gold and platinum.
Shaw said the Nature House is going for gold certification by using renewable, nontoxic and recycled materials.
"We are still accepting donations to achieve gold status," she said. "If we're successful, this will be the first gold-level LEED-certified building in Fairfax County."
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