Hueston Woods State Park has a variety of different adventures to offer, including its new Nature Center.

The Hueston Woods State Park Nature Center is a free exhibition open seven days a week year-round. Inside the building, visitors will find native reptiles such as snakes, turtles, frogs, and fish. All animals came from the lake on Hueston Woods’ property.

The Nature Center also provides information on collecting and harvesting maple syrup and owning and caring for your own beehives from a local bee association. In this exhibit, visitors learn how a beehive works and can see the mother bee.

For the fossil enthusiasts
Visitors can also experience a bird watching exhibit in a native flower garden and a fossil display showcasing fossils that are 60 million years old. Hueston Woods makes it easy to find fossils on your own – it is the only state park in Ohio that allows visitors to fossil hunt without a permit. The Nature Center offers fossil finding programs where employees show visitors what to look for when exploring for remnants.

Raptor rehabilitation center
The Nature Center hosts a raptor rehabilitation center that rehabilitates birds when they are injured and helps them get back into the wild when they are healed. If these birds cannot be healed, they will stay at the nature center or be re homed to another facility that can better care for them. On average, 50 injured birds of prey are accepted into the program each year. Nearly 50% of the birds in the program are released back into the wild.

Permanent residents at the Nature Center include a bald eagle, golden eagle, rough-legged hawk, several redtailed hawks, great horned owls, barred owls, and turkey vultures. This exhibit features wingspan displays to show just how big these different birds can be. The Nature Center is also home to two red foxes and a bobcat.

Naturalist programs
The Nature Center also offers many naturalist programs. These programs include hiking, raptor shows, archery, kayaking and canoeing, fishing, fossil expeditions, campfires, wildlife invasions, creeking, and reptile shows. Naturalist programs are offered monthly and Wednesday through Sunday from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Above, Hueston Woods State Park Nature Center employee with a 35 year old great horned owl who came to the Nature Center when she suffered from an injured wing.