Environmental Education Center
The Cascade Meadow site has three main areas of interest. The first is a state-of-the-art environmental education center. The two-level 16,000 ft2 building will serve as a community education resource and will house educational exhibits, classrooms, and meeting spaces.
Immediately surrounding the center is an area that features best practices in storm water management landscaping techniques and will be the site for sustainable site design education programming.
The site also offers a considerable opportunity to restore and improve a historically degraded wetland within the City of Rochester. A comprehensive wetland restoration plan has been developed and includes the restoration and creation of more than eight different types of wetland and prairie communities.
Once restoration is completed, these natural areas will be accessible by a planned system of trails and will serve as an educational and aesthetic resource for the Rochester community. The first phase of this wetland project has included the construction of a 10-12 acre lake to provide a deep water wetland habitat.