HOLLIS, N.H — With a snip of oversized scissors, Beaver Brook Association officially opened its newly completed Education Building.
The modern, two-story building was designed to fit into the landscape, with large windows offering views that connect with the surrounding natural areas.
The $4.1 million facility is the first phase of Beaver Brook’s Transforming Beaver Brook capital campaign and represents the largest fundraising effort in the organization’s history. The building will support nature and environmental education programs.
“This building came about after many years of our teachers just making do with our historic buildings as their primary space to prepare and teach children and adults year-round,” Executive Director Lindsay Jones said. “We had a yurt previously that really was past its useful life.
“We have such high demand for field trips and summer camps and you name it. We have wait lists and wait lists. So, we really needed a facility that reflected the quality of environmental education we’ve been delivering for 60 years.”
Program Director Becky Kellner said the new center will allow the organization to serve more students and improve accessibility.
“Currently, we have about 2.00 public school kids come through for field-trip experiences,” Kellner said. “We’re anticipating growth of 30 percent in the next five years. We’re going to grow it very slowly and steadily, but this allows us to have larger class sizes and kids with different abilities and disabilities here in the building, which we couldn’t have before.”
The nonprofit land-conservation and environmental-education organization was founded in 1964. Today, Beaver Brook employs 22 educators and 10 full-time staff members, manages 2.200 acres of conservation land and maintains 35 miles of trails. It offers year-round environmental education programs for people of all ages.
The trails and gardens are open to the public from dawn to dusk every day of the year.
About 100 people gathered on a rainy evening to tour the new space and celebrate the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The new center replaces a yurt that served as an education space for 17 years.
“I love that the mice can’t get into our teaching materials,” Jones joked.
Jones said the building gives Beaver Brook a home that better represents the scope of its work.
“I think the most special thing of all is that, after more than 60 years, we finally have a building that reflects the amazing environmental education that we’ve been providing from day one of Beaver Brook coming into existence,” Jones said. “There are very few organizations like Beaver Brook, certainly very few that offer conservation and environmental education at the scale that we offer.”
Jay Nannicelli, a former president of the Beaver Brook Association board and longtime supporter of the nonprofit, made daily visits during construction, serving as an unofficial “clerk of the works.”
Reflecting on Beaver Brook’s role in the community, Nannicelli said the organization offers people a chance to connect with and understand the natural world.
“When you read the headlines in today’s newspapers, you see what’s on television. You see the devastation of the fires out West, the floods and everything else,” he said. “This is a place where you can come, learn about nature, experience it, and build an awareness and an understanding of how important it is to preserve nature.”
