When the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center will open to visitors

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County plans to unveil its new wildlife rehabilitation clinic and visitor center in Glen Ellyn by the end of the year.

The newly renamed DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center at the Willowbrook Forest Preserve will feature a 27,000-square-foot facility with a clinic for injured animals, educational exhibits and an outdoor classroom.

The building is anticipated to be completed and operational by the end of November, Kevin Horsfall, the district’s planning and development director, said in an email. Forest preserve officials expect the public to be able to access the facility in December.

The district formally broke ground on an estimated $29.2 million transformation of the campus in August 2022. Other than some higher than anticipated permit costs, the project is still tracking on budget, Horsfall wrote.

Nearly $9 million in grants and private donations from individuals, corporations and foundations have been committed to the project well underway at the DuPage Wildlife Conservation Center. That amounts to roughly 90% of the district’s original goal.

The two-story clinic and visitor center is the district’s first net-zero designed building, meaning it will generate more energy from renewable resources than it consumes.

The contractor is currently working on installing the siding on the building exterior, as well as wrapping up the drywall installation inside, along with installation of the rooftop units for the HVAC system.

Outdoor recreational improvements east of Glen Crest Creek, which flows through the preserve, should be complete at the end of the month, according to Horsfall. Those improvements include new wildlife observation nodes and interpretive signs, partially funded with an OSLAD grant.

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