Stevens Creek Nature Center in Mint Hill Opens Soon
More than 2/3 of the earth is water, and we know it’s important! We drink it, we cook with it, we shower and swim in it, and out in the open we fish, boat, and even surf in it. Yet even though it’s all around us, there’s a lot we don’t know about it. Come mid-October, there’s a place you can learn more about how our interaction with water — creeks, streams, oceans, rivers — affects us. That’s when Stevens Creek Nature Center in Mint Hill is projected to open to the public. Built on Stevens Creek and the adjoining wetlands, the county’s first park & recreation facility in Mint Hill is devoted to science education about water. “We bought this property to protect the water and the streams, so we’re going to make the theme about watersheds and streams,” says Chris Matthews, the Division Director for Nature Preserves and Natural Resources for Mecklenburg County Park & Recreation. “The building is designed to be nature-centric.” In fact, the county bought the preserve’s 275 acres in order to preserve the watersheds that are home to the endangered Carolina Heelsplitter mussel. There are only two known habitats for the endangered mussel in North Carolina, because they are sensitive to pollutants and need cool, shaded water capable of hosting fish in order to survive and reproduce.
The Carolina Heelsplitter hasn’t been seen in Stevens Creek for a while, but Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services restored the badly-eroded stream to make it more habitable to aquatic life. The county hopes the Heelsplitter makes a comeback, and the nature center will promote and educate visitors about water quality and habitats (including a 5-foot Heelsplitter replica).
“There are big, interactive exhibits — a watershed, a pirate ship, and an AR digital sandbox you can dig your hands into and build mountains and streams with projectors,” says Matthews, whose educational background is in freshwater ecology and conservation biology. He had a lot of visionary involvement in the center’s development and design. “There are parts that are really cool,” he adds, like a kid who’s excited about opening a big gift on his birthday.
The Nature Center is built to fit in with its watershed environment. The entrance floats over “bioretention” rain gardens, and runoff from the roof is channeled and filtered through water features around the site before draining to the creek. There’s even a waterfall that can be turned on and off. Water, water, everywhere, as the Ancient Mariner would say.
“The whole feeling of the building is my favorite thing,” says Matthews. “It’s purposeful and funky and people can orient themselves.”
The science education is a big part for Matthews. A classroom includes roll-up garage doors to bring students closer to nature when the weather is good. The back porch includes rocking chairs where people can relax. A bridge connects the Nature Center to 5 miles of trails. Summer camps are in its future, and so is a resource for homeschooled students.
“Families that need quality science-based education — we have a resource that meets state standards,” says Matthews. With a biologist’s passion, he preaches the importance of education about the waters that humans are naturally drawn to: about teaching environmental responsibility, caring for natural resources, and encouraging people to protect land, water, and animals — a whole community of animals, in fact, who live in our creeks and depend on humans to be responsible.
“We hope we teach people about a part of nature most people don’t think about,” he says. “Mecklenburg County is developing rapidly, building neighborhoods and retail centers really fast, so we really have to pay attention to taking care of our natural resources.”
He hopes you’ll visit Stevens Creek Nature Center, and appreciate water a little more.
