Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center thrives on connecting people with wildlife but a major renovation is giving them more of an incentive to stay eco-friendly.

Shaver’s creek environmental center was founded in 1976.
And Joshua Potter’s dad was its first director.

Potter is now the Educational Outreach Manager of Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center.

“With that though is certainly a deep connection and love for this place,” Potter said.

It’s part of 7,000 of Penn State’s woodlands, that students utilize for classes, and non-releasable wildlife calls home.

And it’s undergoing major renovations to provide more educational opportunities,

“To increase the capacity, to reach the community better, reach more people, reach more students,” Potter said.

The $5.8 million project includes a new classroom, administrative offices, a lodge for exhibits and a welcome center.
About $4 million was provided by the University, and the rest local grants.

“Trying to bring what people have grown to love over the last 41 years of the place, into kind of a new chapter at Shaver’s Creek,” Potter said.

And the design is keeping sustainability in mind.

“We connect people to people, and people to the natural world, and part of that is we always strive to be a role model in the community,” Potter said.

The center was awarded a $35,000 grant from the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund.

It will be used to achieve LEED certification, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

Items including insulated panels and special heating and cooling systems will be installed.

The goal is to wrap up construction and have the facility fully functioning by next spring.