Horicon International Education Center

Horicon Marsh has been formally recognized as a Wetland of International Importance by the Ramsar Convention of the United Nations. This renowned marsh is now home to the Horicon Marsh International Education Center. Due to its international significance, and the fact that scientists from around the world have traveled here for professional training to improve conservation programs in their own countries, this facility is called the International Education Center. Over the years, 66 delegations of scientists from 41 foreign countries have come to Horicon Marsh to participate in special educational programs.

The Wildlife Education Program has been conducted at the marsh since the mid-1980’s. This program focuses on the abundant wildlife resources of the marsh, their ecology and applied management. The program relies on the diverse wildlife to develop a wide range of educational programs aimed at introducing and sharing our native wildlife with a broad audience.

For many years, public naturalist programs, special events and school education programs, which were developed to complement in-class curricula, aimed to connect people with our wildlife and their environment by providing outdoor education programs. However, due to a lack of facilities, this education program relied almost entirely on the trail system at Horicon Marsh to conduct these programs. A downstairs meeting room in the old building occasionally served as the only classroom available for indoor lessons, workshops and a place to escape during inclement weather.

In spite of these constraints, the Horicon Marsh Wildlife Education Program was successful in providing educational experiences for more than 200,000 people over the past 25 years. However, the growing demand for education services and the success of this program required a more permanent facility to allow it to expand and operate on a year-round basis. As a result, a goal was established to develop an education center on the grounds of Wisconsin’s best-known wetland.

In 1992, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) purchased the former Flyway Clinic, a 16,000 square foot building located along Hwy 28, with the intent of developing this as an education center. The building had been abandoned and only the upper floor had actually been developed. This served as the DNR’s Service Center, or staff office, in the Horicon Marsh area and tentative plans were drawn up to expand this to also serve as an education facility.

A non-profit Friends Group was established in 1994 as a fund raising organization to support this cause. The organization also has provided countless hours of volunteer assistance to the education program. Following a long campaign, sufficient funds were eventually raised to allow hiring of an architect to develop the final construction plans. This provided both blueprints and a project budget which helped drive the final phase of fund raising. In the end, the Friends of Horicon Marsh International Education Center reached its goal of raising $1.8 million towards construction of the Center. The State of Wisconsin matched this through the Building Commission and additional funds were provided to DNR to renovate the office area to house its staff, creating a $4.8 million project.

Construction was begun in November 2007, keeping much of the original building, and after 18 months of construction the new Education Center was completed in late March 2009. Due to construction delays, DNR staff and the education program moved into the new building only two weeks before the start of the busy spring season, so an effort was made to transplant the education program to the new building and continue to provide educational services for the spring visitors.

Having completed the first season in the Education Center, the summer now focused on moving the entire education program into the new space and taking advantage of the new facilities to expand the program. This new building provided the education program with an opportunity to conduct the existing education programs in a much more elaborate manner. Due to the many new features, it also provided an opportunity to conduct entirely new programs that had not been offered to date. The fall 2009 education program schedule reflects this by providing the core education services, plus many new activities, including Movies at the Marsh, a guest lecture series, art exhibits, and other programs and special events.

The International Education Center brings a new modern design and provides for enhanced visitor services. This building features a spectacular Marsh Viewing Area with its three-sided glass walls focusing out onto the marsh. Adjacent to this is the Children’s Discovery Room that will be further developed to provide seasonally changing hands-on activities for children to explore various facets of nature. A front desk provides visitor information and is located next to the gift shop which has a range of items for visitors to enhance and remember their experience at Horicon Marsh.

In the lower level are two classrooms, with seating for 30 people in each room, which can be opened up into one large room. The classrooms are joined by a mudroom for equipment storage for conducting outdoor education programs and open onto the marsh with direct access onto an outdoor patio featuring a giant map of Horicon Marsh. The patio leads visitors onto trails that travel down to the edge and through the marsh.

The interior walls facing the classrooms provide space for art exhibits with over ninety linear feet of display area. A lower lobby serves as the Traveling Exhibit Area where changing exhibits and displays can be erected throughout the year. Adjacent to this is a kitchenette for serving snacks or providing space for catered meals to conference attendees.

The primary feature of this part of the building is a high-tech auditorium with seating for up to 120 people. It comes with an 8 x 12 foot wide screen, rear projection audio-visual system capable of high-definition projection. This system can project laptop computers, VHS tapes, DVD and Blu-Ray discs, all of which can serve the needs for a wide range of meetings, conferences, workshops, and public education programs.

All of these amenities serve to enhance the visitor experience at Horicon Marsh and provide for year round education opportunities. However, the education center is only a grand tool for conducting an effective education program. In spite of these many features, it still is the education program that brings meaning to the Horicon Marsh experience. The Education Center, however, will allow this to be done in great comfort, in a plush setting, and at any time of year -for visitors from all corners of the world.

The Horicon Marsh Education Program

Horicon Marsh is a Wisconsin landmark of regional, national and international significance. Its rich history offers many lessons in wetland and wildlife restoration and management. The Horicon Marsh International Education Center provides experiences and an understanding of this valuable natural resource.

The Horicon Marsh International Education Center takes full advantage of the marsh's geology, wildlife, and history in educating citizens about this unique and valuable resource in Wisconsin. It focuses on wetland and wildlife topics to help visitors understand the delicate natural relationship that exists at the marsh. The educational programs and exhibits integrate themes about Ice Age geology, human history, the ecology and land management of the marsh, and the wildlife that thrive there.

Many of the educational components will be self-guided to accommodate the growing demand for interpretation services. Classroom-style instruction is available for youth and adults and will take place both inside the Center and out in the marsh. The education program includes workshops in wildlife and resource management, hunter education and environmental and outdoor education training for teachers.

The foundation of the education program is the natural and cultural resources of Horicon Marsh. The subject matter focuses on these natural assets and uses them to introduce and familiarize visitors with this world renowned resource. Naturalist program subjects include the following:

• Pre-Glacial and Glacial Geology of the Area
• Indian History
• Settlement History and Human Impacts to the Marsh
• Wetlands, Wildlife and Wildlife Management Programs

Program Audience

The audience for these programs is as diverse as the subject matter. They include:

• Tourists and marsh visitors
• School children and university students
• Teachers training through development of a field trip guide and workshops to train teachers in their use.
• Outdoor Skills workshops for hunter and trapper education, and bird watching.
• Professional training in resource management and ecology for DNR staff including the Warden Waterfowl Training Course, plus personnel from county, state, and federal agencies staff.
• Other professionals from the International Scientific Community. This includes a total of 57 delegations from 36 foreign countries.

Partners

In developing and conducting the education program, this effort cooperates with many partners. They include:

• Other DNR programs and staff
• Conservation and environmental groups
• Local communities and organizations, including:
  • The Friends of the Horicon Marsh International Education Center
  • Horicon Marsh Bird Club
• National Park Service;
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• various universities and UW-Extension Office
• Dodge County Tourism Council
• Local civic organizations
• Area radio stations and newspapers which inform the public on local resources and important issues.

Goals

IIn the development of educational efforts at Horicon Marsh, we first built an Education Program, and have now built an appropriate and comprehensive Education Center to house these programs and services. The goal of our education program is this:

To build more than a nature center that just tells people about the marsh and its wildlife. We are the means by which people can understand the natural resources which they are responsible for and the ecosystem which we are all a part of.

This program will strive to instill a "Land Ethic" in the minds of many people it comes in contact with.

Fifty years ago, one of Wisconsin's great ecologists and educators, Aldo Leopold, first proposed the concept of a Land Ethic. Ethics are rules of conduct for a society. We have developed ethics regarding how we treat other people, but have yet to develop an ethic of how we should treat land. As land use today becomes an ever-increasingly important issue, this Education Center and its program provides the focus for wise decisions about resource use.

As Aldo Leopold once said:

We are calling this facility the "Horicon Marsh International Education Center" because of the designation of this marsh as a "Wetland of International Importance" by the Ramsar Convention. The convention on the most globally significant wetlands on earth has included the Horicon Marsh as a wetland whose value extends beyond the borders of our state.

However, an International Education Center is so named not only because of the designation of the marsh, but because of the way the education program functions. We are part of and connected to the global environmental community. Not only do visitors and scientists from all over the world come here, but we communicate with them from this facility. From this building, Bill Volkert also coordinates and directs the activities of the International Lake Baikal Project in Siberia, Russia. Through personal exchanges and modern communication media, such as Internet electronic mail, we maintain an exchange of information on our understanding of natural systems and our attempt to develop a sustainable lifestyle that is in harmony with our natural environment.

The goal of this Education Program then is to work with our neighbors - those who live throughout the Rock River watershed which surrounds this marsh - to develop a sustainable land use policy and practices which protect the marsh and its wildlife while maintaining the human community and economy that lies within the watershed and the Horicon neighborhood.

This grand goal and the necessary relationship which we will strive to develop among our visitors and neighbors will result in long-term benefits to this marsh and those who live by it - as it has always provided for the people who depend on the marsh. It will also benefit the millions of people who come here to visit and learn about the marsh and its management programs.

Additionally, if we should succeed in developing and defining a "Land Ethic" which sustains ourselves and the land on which we live, our work will serves as a model from which others can learn to sustain their own portions of the global environment which we all share.

This will be the true measure and success in establishing an International Education Center!

Contact Information

Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area
N7725 Hwy 28
Horicon, WI 53032
(920) 387-7860

Questions for Wildlife Management