NEDERLAND -- In 1995, elementary school educator Jill Dreves took $500 out of her savings account and founded a nature center, exploring Nederland’s mountains with 25 kids that summer. 30 years later, community members and individual donors have contributed millions of dollars to a net-zero building meant to connect the Front Range with nature.

In 2020, Wild Bear Nature Center completed its vision to construct a permanent 8,500 square foot community building, located among 5 acres of purchased property adjacent to the Boulder County open space Mud Lake.

Mud Lake itself is an integral piece of Wild Bear’s history, as the center worked with Boulder County and the Town of Nederland in the late 1990s to restore what had turned into a dumping ground back into 3,200 acres of preserved wetland habitat.

In 2022, Native American tribe members blessed the nature center’s new land, and in 2023, construction officially began. In July of 2025, 50 kilowatts of solar panels were installed on the completed structure’s roof, making the center 100% electric and tying it to the grid. Through the GoWild Campaign, the center is on track to officially open in the fall of 2026.

On Saturday, August 2, starting at 2 p.m., community members came to the new structure, put on hard hats and high-visibility vests, and gathered for the first performance of live music on the center’s solar-powered stage. Singer-songwriter Eric Richard Stone played originals and covers, concluding by saying this was the first time he had ever performed in a hard hat.

After this opening set, Dreves introduced the new nature center, first giving its background. She introduced herself as the center’s Chief Visionary Officer and quipped that, as a child prodigy, she founded the nature center at the age of ten.

After breaking the ice with humor and gratitude, Dreves thanked the various donors, staff, and volunteers who made the new nature center possible. Jill has imagined such a community nature congregation for Wild Bear’s entire lifespan, believing in the vision and pushing even when others called her a “crazy lady.”

After her opening statements, Dreves passed the microphone to Louise Chawla, University of Colorado Professor Emerita, who discussed her research in the importance of children engaging with nature.

The discussion then transitioned to Corrie Colvin Williams, co-founder and principal consultant of Blue Lotus Consulting, and Wild Bear’s contribution as one of three nature centers included in her PhD study focusing on the longitudinal benefits of children engaging with nature.

After these presentations, Wild Bear members brought small groups on a tour of the structure to give visitors a sense of what the final building will look like and accomplish, with Stone starting a second background set. The event wound up with refreshments and Dreves leading the group on a nature walk to Mud Lake.

What started as a teacher’s dream to engage children with nature found a home in a science lab in Nederland Elementary School. What then developed into its own separate building in the Caribou Village Shopping Center has now expanded to a permanent educational and natural haven just outside of the land it helped preserve.

For Dreves, what started from a desire to encourage the appreciation of Colorado’s mountain landscapes, especially for children, has developed through community effort and continues to expand into Boulder, Denver, and beyond. For Dreves, this is more than a dream come true – it’s a legacy for an entire community.

Learn more about and contribute to Wild Bear Nature Center by going to wildbear.org, as well as the new nature center building at gowild.wildbear.org.