The Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center, a 900-acre facility operated by the Science Museum of Minnesota that draws thousands of schoolchildren each year, will close by the end of the year.
Officials from the Manitou Fund, which owns the Warner Nature Center land and facilities in northern Washington County, and has provided the bulk of funding for the center’s operating budget, elected not to renew its annual partnership agreement with the museum. The agreement expires Dec. 31.
“Manitou Fund is exploring options for how best to use the land and facilities going forward and for future generations, though no specific plans are in place at this time,” officials said in a statement posted Thursday afternoon on the center’s website.
The center, which opened in 1967 to provide free outdoor and environmental education to schoolchildren, employed 11 people and had more than 100 volunteers. About 17,000 students visited annually.
Officials from the Manitou Fund, formerly the Lee & Rose Warner Foundation, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.
In a statement, fund officials said it has been an “honor” to support Warner Nature Center over the years and said any plan for the center land will continue the fund’s “50-plus years tradition of using this cherished space to positively impact the community.”
“Manitou Fund is extremely grateful to everyone who has dedicated his or her time, talent and financial support to ensure the success of Warner Nature Center,” according to the statement. “The fund is also thankful to every person who has ever visited the center — the ultimate demonstration of trust and validation in the Center’s programs and mission. A special place was created where meaningful connections with nature have taken place for over five decades.”
The Warner Nature Center was “one of Minnesota’s crown jewels of environmental education,” said Joanne Jones-Rizzi, the Science Museum’s vice president of science, equity and education.
“The Science Museum … is honored to be forever linked to Warner’s cherished legacy and enduring impact on learners,” she said. “Our wish is that all visitors, past and present, will incorporate the center’s mission into their own lives — build a personal relationship with nature and inspire others to find meaningful connections to the beauty and wonder of the natural world.”
The closing of the center, which is located in May Township in northern Washington County, came as a shock to township officials on Thursday.
“It’s a total surprise,” said Bill Voedisch, township chairman. “We don’t know what this means for the future of the property. It will be a great loss.”
The Warner Nature Center is one of three major areas of open space in the township; the other two are Wilder Forest and Kelly Farms, Voedisch said.
“It’s one of the open-space anchors for the community — low-impact uses, wonderful source of natural programming for kids, all of those things,” he said. “Obviously, we would like to see it continue in some form.”
According to the Manitou Fund’s IRS form 990 filed at the end of 2017, the fund reported fair-market value assets of $50,178,150.
The fund was established in 1964 by former Vikings owner Donald McNeely to fund many of his family’s charitable interests. McNeely, of White Bear Lake, created the Rose and Lee Warner Nature Center in 1964 to honor his aunt and uncle and promote environmental education. In 2006, he donated money to the Minnesota State Fair and had the Coliseum named after Lee and Rose Warner.
In 2009, the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation, another foundation started by McNeely, was merged into the Manitou Fund.
McNeely, who died in 2009 at age 94, headed the former Terminal Warehouse Co., which was started by his father, Harry. He expanded the St. Paul-based industrial real estate company, now called Space Center Inc., into a national firm. He became co-owner of the Minnesota Vikings in 1962 and also helped bring the Washington Senators to Minnesota as the Minnesota Twins.
The Manitou Fund’s board of trustees is composed of McNeely’s children and officers and employees of Space Center.
The fund is perhaps best known for donating $7 million to the Como Park Conservatory, whose botanical flower garden was renamed in honor of McNeely’s late wife, Marjorie, in 2002.
A limited set of events and activities will take place at the Warner Nature Center between now and the end of the year; the center’s Fall Color Blast will be 1-5 p.m., Oct. 6.
Museum officials said they would continue to explore ways to “provide science learning experiences that build lifelong connections to the natural world” after the center closes.
Thirteen animals, including two owls, an American kestrel, turtles, frogs and toads, lived at the nature center. The animals, all native to Minnesota, were in captivity because they were no longer able to survive in the wild — some were injured, like the Barred Owl who is blind in her left eye, while others, like the spiny softshell turtle, were former pets that no longer had the skills to compete with their wild counterparts, according to the center’s website.
Plans call for the animals to find new homes, “where they will be cared for in a way that best meets their individual and unique needs,” the website stated.
