Jim Waltman stands in front of the new LEED Platinum Watershed Center in Hopewell.
The Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association is set to host the grand opening of the Watershed Center for Environmental Advocacy, Science, and Educationon Saturday, May 2 at 11 a.m. The center is located at 31 Titus Mill Road in Pennington.
The ribbon cutting ceremony will begin with remarks by state and local leaders. This will be an open house style event with the unveiling of new water, energy, and natural history exhibits, tours, live music, complimentary food, and interactive science programs in the new laboratory, all continuing until 3 p.m.
The opening of the new Watershed Center has been made possible with the financial support of over 300 individuals and institutions that contributed more than $8 million.
The center is the result of an extensive renovation and addition to a 1970 ranch house that served for 25 years as the Watershed’s Buttinger Nature Center. The new building has achieved the environmentally acclaimed LEED-Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. This new facility demonstrates a multitude of cutting edge strategies to reduce consumption of energy and water, improve management of stormwater and wastewater, and minimize the impact of the structure on the surrounding environment.
The Watershed Center will provide working classrooms, a science laboratory, weather station, computer learning center, and interactive exhibits for all ages. Visitors, members, and staff can also enjoy conference rooms, a gift shop and the return of the Kate Gorrie Butterfly House.
The new center will be the central hub of all Watershed Association activities. Open to the public year round, guests are encouraged to engage in interactive educational exhibits, visit with the resident amphibians and reptiles, learn from scientists and teacher-naturalists, borrow a book from the lending library, or hike the Watershed Reserve’s 10 miles of trails.
In addition to the environmental exhibits that are available in two exhibit halls, the building has an auditorium for speaking events and other functions. With data on the center’s energy and water systems monitored in real time, and a weather station on site, visitors can stop in to staff and volunteers in action as they work toward a better New Jersey.
For more information, visit thewatershed.org.
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