Sloane Samberson, BubbleLife Intern

The grand opening of Coppell’s Biodiversity Education Center will be hosted by city and community leaders on Earth Day, April 22.

The 5,800-square-foot building is located at Wagon Wheel Park, 367 Freeport Parkway. The building receives all power from 96 solar panels and gets water from a cistern. The cistern captures rain water for surrounding gardens.

The whole concept of the nature park came from the Friends of Coppell Nature Park group, which began a funding campaign with other community groups to gather materials and in-kind donations.

The Coppell City Council approved $900,000 in funds back in Feb. 2013 to help begin construction on the project. The end cost for the new center was $2.1 million.

The center’s main focus is to educate residents about nature, practice conservation and facilitating hands-on learning.

Keep Coppell Beautiful has already begun hosting programs in the center where they teach lessons on tree selection and care, insects and organic lawn care. North Lake College has its biology classes testing water at the site for out of classroom activities.  

The new education center plans to continue serving as a way to help people of the community to learn and appreciate the beauty of Coppell’s nature.

 Link to original article.