The Paul H. Douglas Center at Indiana Dunes National Park has been closed for several months due to extensive renovations. Celebrate its reopening on Earth Day, April 22nd, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm with a variety of family-friendly activities. 

Kids will love the outdoor Nature Play Zone with its shovels, buckets, sticks, and rocks that can be used to build a fort, dig a hole or just learn how to play outside. Head inside the center to a live animal room to see some of the creatures who make this park their home. Kids can even help the ranger feed the center’s resident animals. Then let the kids enjoy nature crafts and take home a hummingbird or butterfly feeder they made themselves.  

Two ranger-led hikes will be offered through the beautiful Miler Woods. The first is a half-mile hike that starts at 12:30 pm and takes you to the new, hands-on pollinator exhibits along the trail. The second hike begins at 1:30 pm and travels through Miller Woods to Lake Michigan and back for a total of about three miles. After the hike, there will be a food truck on site if you’ve worked up an appetite from all the activity. 

Learn about partner organizations, Friends of Indiana Dunes, Save the Dunes, and Brown Faces Green Spaces, who will staff information tables on their upcoming events and activities. 

The Paul H. Douglas Center is located in the western portion of the national park at 100 North Lake Street in the Miller section of Gary. For more information on this and other programs at Indiana Dunes National Park, call 219-395-1824, visit our website, download the official National Park Service app, or view our Facebook page.  

Original source can be found here.