Visit Us
We welcome you to extend your learning beyond our website and visit us! We are now open to the public Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 10:00am - 4:00pm and for special events including educational presentations, workshops and activities. While visiting, be sure to check out our 11 interactive exhibits that focus on water, energy and wetlands. Also, make sure to look around our brand-new, sustainable building. Follow the Sustainble Building Trail inside and the Storm Water Trail and Renewable Energy Trails outside to explore our "green" and innovative features. An engaging wetland trail system and more exhibits are planned for completion in 2012, so be sure to come back often!
Interactive Exhibits
Water Connections
Water is one of the most taken-for-granted and mysterious elements of our daily lives. We turn on a faucet and clean, drinkable water pours out in seemingly limitless quantities. Outside our home, we see ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers containing water of a very different character. Are the two kinds of water connected? Where does our drinking water come from? And what happens to the wastewater that leaves our kitchens and bathrooms every day?
Developed and paid for by Rochester Public Works, Rochester Public Utilities, and the Rochester Water Reclamation Plant, the Water Connections exhibit connects visitors with the different journeys that water takes to supply our lives each day in Rochester. The exhibit explore wastewater, drinking water, and storm water systems.
From Streets to Waterways
The Rochester Public Works Department invites you to discover how our actions on the land affect surface water with this interactive exhibit. Learn why you have waterfront property even if you don’t live near a lake or stream. Discover some pollution culprits and learn how water pollution looks. Become part of the “Keeping it Clean” team - take a pledge for clean water and show others how your are making a difference.
Water Footprint
Each day, Rochester Public Utilities pumps millions of gallons of water for our use. Where does it all go? We know the obvious ways we each use water: cooking, washing, drinking, irrigating, and flushing. But what are the hidden ways water is consumed on our behalf?
Down the Drain
Learn how the different processes at the Rochester Water Reclamation Plant are used to clean our wastewater while recovering energy and nutrients at the same time. The display teaches visitors about the personal actions they can take to help maintain our complex wastewater collection and treatment systems.
Watershed Floor Map
Do you know where the water goes that runs off of your property? This 17-ft floor map looks at the 910,337-acre Zumbro River Watershed where the Cascade Meadow Science Center is located. See if you can find us on the map; Or, take a closer look to see if your home is located in the Zumbro Watershed and follow the path a water drop that falls on your property might take as it makes its way to the Zumbro River and eventually out to the Mississippi River.
The Home Energy Connection
For most of us, the energy required to heat and cool our homes, light our living spaces, run our appliances, and manage our daily household tasks is largely invisible. Even for those who carefully track their monthly energy bill, translating units of electricity into the raw materials (coal, wind, hydropower) used to create them isn't necessarily obvious. The Rochester Public Utilities Energy Fun House teaches visitors to explore energy related topics in a fun, interactive way. Topics covered in the 200 square foot structure includes sources of energy, measuring and comparing energy use through common appliances, energy conservation through the Energy Star program, and how to search out and eliminate "phantom" loads.
Powering the City
You and two-to-five others are in charge of managing the power supply to a small-scale city! See how the power demand for the City changes throughout the day. Help prevent blackouts by supplying power by delivering coal to a power plant, speeding up the wind turbine, redirecting the solar collector, increasing the flow through the hydro-electric water turbine or reducing demand from the homes on the grid.
Cascade Meadow Wetlands Contour Map
This touchable map with sculptural details features natural and constructed features such as the building, rain gardens, roads, and parking lot of Cascade Meadow. It also highlights the areas where all seven types of wetlands will be created - and their connection to storm water flow.
Wetlands Mechanical Theater
Wetlands are ecosystems that serve important functions. Over the course of a year, the role that wetlands serve changes with each seasonal change. This fun and interactive mechanical theater helps explain the seasonal cycle: As visitors turn a crank, they see a wetland scene as it goes through a series of changes that highlights its functions throughout the year.
Living with Wetlands
Wetland conservation is not an easy issue, as it brings to light the competing demands of development and conservation. In Living with Wetlands visitors will "step into the shoes" of four individuals with different perspectives on wetlands. These individuals include a homeowner with a flooded basement, a farmer draining wetlands to expand crop productivity, a wildlife enthusiast using wetlands for recreational hunting, and a commercial developer faced with tough decisions about developing on a wetland area.
Building Data and Education Kiosk
Interested in how many watts of electicity our wind turbines are generating at that moment? How about how much energy our solar photovoltaic panels produced last month? Step up to the building data and education kiosk to find the answers to these questions and more.
All About Aquifers **Coming Soon**
Where does our water come from? How did it get there? How do we get it out? A little geology lesson will tell the tale.
Interpretive Trails
Sustainable Building Trail
The Cascade Meadow building was designed and built with sustainability in mind - from planning teams and architects, to general contractors and builders. Every step of the way, teams of people made sustainable choices. The Sustainable Building Trail is how we want to share the stories of these choices with our visitors. The "trail" is marked with icons at various features, which include wall types (insulated concrete forms and structural insulation panels), rain screen, green roof, solar thermal for domestic water, geothermal heat pumps for heating and cooling, on-site electrical generation through wind and solar panels, and other sustainable construction practices and finishing materials choices.
Storm Water Trail
Immediately surrounding the Cascade Meadow building is an extensive system of storm water management best practices. They are the topic of our second trail system, called the Storm Water Trail. This trail highlights the pervious pavements, bio-retention cell system, native plantings, green roofs, and additional landscape designs to keep and treat storm water on-site.
Renewable Energy Trail
The Cascade Meadow center and site feature several renewable energy systems. In partnership with Rochester Public Utilities, these include two different wind turbines, three different photovoltaic solar panel arrays, solar hot water panels, and a geothermal system for heating and cooling the building. This trail takes you on a path that highlights each of these systems.
Wetlands Trail **Coming Soon**
On the Cascade Meadow site, seven of the eight different wetland types in Minnesota will be present following a three-year restoration process. The wetland trail takes visitors through each of these types of wetlands, while highlighting their uniqueness and importance. Please note that in order to protect our wetland water quality and to encourage sightings of wildlife by visitors, dogs and other pets will not be allowed on our wetland trails.
Map & Directions
We are located at 2900 19th Street Northwest in Rochester.
Hours of Operation
Come and explore! Cascade Meadow Science Center is open to the public Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10:00am - 4:00pm. The building may also be open for special events. For details on upcoming events please visit our Events page.
Building Use
Cascade Meadow has a variety of meeting spaces available to the community for activities consistent with our mission. To see building use room rates and submit a request to reserve a room, please complete our building use form (MS Word or PDF).
Pre-approved Caterers: Cascade Meadow has two pre-approved caterers who must provide food and beverages for meetings.