A new nature school, where students from Columbia and other Boone County districts can learn about the environment by being immersed in it, will be next to Three Creeks Conservation Area south of Columbia.
The 207 acres where four classrooms and lab spaces will be built was donated by former Columbia Daily Tribune publisher Hank Waters and his wife, associate publisher Vicki Russell. The students will also have access to Three Creeks’ more than 1,000 acres.
The nature school is being created through a partnership between Columbia Public Schools and the Missouri Department of Conservation, which maintains Three Creeks.
Waters did not want the land to be developed and wanted to leave a legacy in Columbia, district science coordinator Mike Szydlowski said.
“It would have become a commercial subdivision, and we’ve got too many of those,” Waters said about donating instead of selling the property. He said the land, which he acquired in about 1981, is good for public use.
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