[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 21 (Tuesday, February 7, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E154]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           RECOGNIZING THE THOMAS IRVINE DODGE NATURE CENTER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 7, 2017

  Ms. McCOLLUM. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the volunteers, 
staff, visitors and supporters of the Thomas Irvine Dodge Nature Center 
in West Saint Paul, Minnesota on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary 
of the center. Founded in 1967 by Olivia Irvine Dodge, the center has 
served as a pioneering venue for environmental education and a premier 
outdoor classroom for generations of Minnesota students.
  Dodge Nature Center is a rare jewel, located on 460 acres of land 
minutes from downtown Saint Paul, where visitors can hike for miles 
through prairies, hardwood forests, lakes, wetlands, and visit a 
working farm, orchard and bee apiary. The various biomes and landscapes 
provide an ever changing classroom for which to learn about the natural 
environment of Minnesota.
  Olivia Irvine Dodge was a true trail blazer in environmental 
education, and the core mission of Dodge Nature Center is teaching 
children about the inherent beauty and complexity of the natural world 
around us. Throughout the past five decades, environmental educators at 
the center have developed an expansive environmental curriculum that 
has introduced hundreds of thousands of students from the Twin Cities 
to the science of the great outdoors. Because of the vision of Olivia 
Irvine Dodge and the center board and staff, children and adults alike 
learn how to care for and appreciate the incredible splendor of 
Minnesota's natural surroundings.
  Growing up in neighboring South Saint Paul, I was fortunate to have 
many opportunities to visit and learn at Dodge Nature Center both as a 
child and as a young. Leading groups of children through the nature 
center to learn about the plants and animals around us was a highlight 
of my summers as a YMCA camp counselor. Then as it is now, the Dodge 
Nature Center is an integral part of our community that allows children 
and adults alike to connect with nature, and enables them to learn 
about science and conservation. Today, opportunities to visit Dodge 
remain special events for me. Whatever the season, I look forward to 
walking trails to experience nature right in the backyard of 
Minnesota's capital city.
  On February 9th, Dodge Nature Center staff, volunteers, friends, 
family and supporters will gather to celebrate five decades of the 
center's mission to connect people to nature through education. In 
honoring this occasion, it is particularly fitting that Richard Louv 
will headline the gathering. As a world renowned author and 
environmental educator, Mr. Louv literally wrote the book about how to 
counter nature-deficit disorder and reconnect children and their 
families with the natural world. His work has sparked an international 
movement for the great outdoors that builds on the foundation forged by 
Olivia Irvine Dodge.
  Mr. Speaker, please join me in rising to recognize the 50th 
Anniversary of Dodge Nature Center, and commend the passion and 
dedication of so many volunteers, staff and board members for providing 
exceptional environmental education for today's youth and for future 
generations of Minnesotans.

                          ____________________