Woodcock Nature Center

Woodcock Nature Center

Pond at Woodcock Nature Center
Type Nature center and wildlife sanctuary
Location 56 Deer Run Road
Wilton, CT, USA
Coordinates 41°14′51″N 73°28′25″W / 41.2476°N 73.4737°WCoordinates: 41°14′51″N 73°28′25″W / 41.2476°N 73.4737°W
Area 179 acres (72 ha)
Created 1972
Website www.woodcocknaturecenter.org

The Woodcock Nature Center is a non-profit nature center located at 56 Deer Run Road in Wilton, Connecticut. The center is situated on 179 acres (0.72 km2) of state-protected land with 3 miles (4.8 km) of trails traversing a mixture of habitats, including woods with stands of maple, beech, oak and hickory trees, a pond and wetlands.[1]

The center's building houses of local and exotic snakes, frogs and lizards, as well as a few rehabilitated birds of prey that were too injured to be released back into the wild.

The center offers summer camp, after school and other programs for children and school groups.

History

After a 1955 flood devastated the Norwalk River Valley, the state of Connecticut bought up and safety-dammed several feeder streams in order to control floods. About 1969, Ridgefield First Selectman J. Mortimer Woodcock arranged to lease 140 acres (0.57 km2) of the property along Spectacle Creek in Wilton and Ridgefield (130 acres in Wilton) for a nature center, and in 1972 the Woodcock Nature Center was opened.[2]

References

  1. http://www.wiltonct.org/PDFs/conservation/woodcock.pdf A Wilton Walker's Guide to Woodcock Nature Center, accessed on January 18, 2008
  2. http://www.acorn-online.com/news/publish/100things/20372.shtml Hersam Acorn Newspapers, "100 Things to Do", accessed on January 18, 2008

External links