Getting kids up close with nature is the goal of this environmental center in southeastern Massachusetts

DARTMOUTH – The Lloyd Center for the Environment in Dartmouth, Massachusetts has been teaching children about nature for more than 40 years.

Executive director Rachel Stronach said they’ve been around so long they’ve been written into the curriculum at local schools.

“Respect and affection for nature”

“Our goal is to instill a respect and affection for nature,” she told WBZ-TV.  “We have 82 acres here. And we are waterfront, on the Slocum River estuary.”

With five miles of hiking trails open sunrise to sunset all year long, it’s not just kids who enjoy the scenery. 

“We do walks, we do talks, we do hikes. One of our most popular programs is a canoe trip,” said Stronach. 

Students from both southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island are brought in for a coastal field study that takes them to four unique stations about the environment. 

“It’s so nice to see them be able to see what we’ve been learning about in the classroom in a real world setting,” said fourth grade teacher Chelsea Mauricio. 

Mauricio teaches science and math and has brought her students to the Lloyd Center for several years. Her student Landon Dean told WBZ the best part of his day was meeting Norbert the turtle. 

“We learned about a box turtle. So it can go in its shell and then close its shell,” Landon said.

15,000 students a year

Up to 15,000 students visit the center each year. It’s the only organization in the area whose sole mission is to educate the public about coastal and watershed issues.

“Today the fourth graders were really looking at all the connections in the ecosystem here,” Stronach told WBZ. “So looking at the maritime forest, the salt marsh and the estuary and how all of the things there interact.”

They’re also opening a new welcome center later this summer that they hope will have the Living Building Challenge certification. It’s the strictest of environmental building standards. 

“The building will actually generate more energy than it uses,” said Stronach, adding that the welcome center would be one of 29 in the world that meets the certification. 

The Lloyd Center’s mission is to have an overall impact on the students who visit.

“They’re the generation that has to grow up and take care of it,” said Mauricio. 

Visiting the Lloyd Center is completely free. For more information, go to their website.