Cincinnati Nature Center to host groundbreaking for new field station

Cincinnati Nature Center is preparing to welcome a new $3.6 million field station at Long Branch Farm and Trails.

The 4,000-square-foot Center for Conservation’s Field Station will be a hub for a range of activities, including field research, native plant production and restoration projects. The space will feature a native seed processing and storage barn, lab workstations, equipment space and additional plant cultivation hoop houses. It’ll also have meeting space, office space and public restrooms.

A formal groundbreaking ceremony will take place Oct. 9 at 10 am.

“To provide proper, modern conservation field station facilities for our team and visiting researchers, natural resource professionals, members, volunteers and visitors, we must construct a hub for our community-based conservation activities,” said Jeff Corney, executive director of the Cincinnati Nature Center.

This is the first building constructed by Cincinnati Nature Center since 1971. The nonprofit expects it to open in fall 2025. 

“We’ve repurposed and restored several buildings over the years, but now it’s time to meet our critical mission needs and take a fresh approach at Long Branch,” Corney added.

The evolution of green space

In 1972, Neil and Camilla McElroy donated their 538-acre working farm to Cincinnati Nature Center to be an educational farm. The McElroys said they wanted to preserve the land and viewed it as a space to teach people about “the source of food and fiber,” according to a release from the Nature Center.

Over the past 52 years, the organization has continued expanding this property. Today, Long Branch Farm and Trails encompasses 758 acres – about the area of Central Park in New York City – of forest and farmland.

The educational farm remained in place for about three decades. But by 2005, field trips to the farm became rare and Long Branch farm eventually became mostly vacant. A small conservation team and volunteers began building hoop houses in 2017, nurturing native plant seedlings and reimagining the former educational farm.

In 2023, the team produced more than 17,000 plants.

“The land is productive again, this time in a way that speaks deeply to native plants, foraging, conservation, and living lightly on the land,” Jason Neumann, public programs manager at the Nature Center, said.

The cost of the new property is the result of private donations. 

One of those donors is Irv Simon, the Nature Center’s facilities committee chair. He said he and his wife, Melinda, donated to this project to help the Nature Center achieve three objectives: expand its influence and reach, increase knowledge of native plants and contribute to conservation and effects like climate change.

“This will also attract collaborators to expand research,” Simon said.

Cincinnati Nature Center