The Pringle Nature Center's Short History

When the PNC opened in 1998 it was run by the Kenosha Youth Foundation (KYF) as a true nature center with Dan Werner as the director. "Dan the nature man" and volunteer Jim Major conducted environmental education programs for thousands of excited school age children and kept the center open to the public 7 days a week. However, in January 2003 the KYF eliminated Werner's position and the center was only used for KYF childcare facility during the summer. On December 31, 2003 the KYF, now the YMCA of Kenosha, decided to no longer facilitate nature programming at the facility and the doors were locked.  Largely due to the efforts of Dan Werner and Jim Major, in cooperation with the Hoy Audubon Society, the center reopened on an all volunteer basis in May 2004.

Because of the contributions of these individuals and funding from the Kenosha County and the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board, the PNC is once again able to provide environmental education to school groups, youth organizations, families, youths and adults.

In 2006 a grant from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board allowed for the hiring of Christine Reardon, a University of Wisconsin-Parkside student, as a part-time naturalist. Through the efforts of Kenosha County, funding was provided by Waste Management, Inc in 2007 to make the Naturalist position full-time. The funding was assumed by Kenosha County in its 2009 budget.