Wilderness Center, Inc.

Target demographics: We target the community of northeast Ohio, including Stark, Wayne, Holmes, Tuscarawas, Summit, Carroll, Medina, and Ashland counties.

Programs: The wilderness center twc education programs consists of formal and informal programming which served over 14,000 participants during our fiscal year ended june 30, 2017. Formal programs include public and private schools, youth groups and adult organizations. The education department served about 9,300 participants in over 500 formal programs. Informal programming serves twc members and the general public. Staff, twc clubs and volunteers served about 4,500 people in 307 informal programs.

the wilderness centers facilities include an interpretive building containing classrooms, meeting rooms, exhibits, a wildlife observation room and a bookstore/gift shop. Twcs astronomy education building houses an observatory and the fred f. Silk planetarium. Twc offers 10 miles of hiking trails, 3 picnic shelters and an observation tower for the publics enjoyment and enrichment. Twc is also home to a nature playscape and a native plant nursery.

the wilderness centers land protection and conservation programs continued to grow during our fiscal year ended june 30, 2017. Twc currently protects more than 3,600 acres of forest, prairie and farmland and more than 13 miles of streams throughout a seven-county area. The center currenly owns in fee 2,300 acres and holds conservation easements on 1,195 acres. Twc consulting forestry currently maintains management plans for more than 18,000 acres. Twc has introduced a program known as the community watershed conservation partnership cwcp which will provide land owners with a way to protect, enhance or restore wildlife habitat on their property through the use of non-binding agreements.