History
The Wild Center was founded by a group of people who wanted to build a Center for the Adirondacks. Their vision attracted more than 12,000 private contributions toward building the Center. The Center opened its main campus facility in 2006, at an event attended by George Pataki, Hillary Clinton, Chief Jake Swamp-Tekaroniaken, and musician Richie Havens. The Center became the first LEED certified museum in New York in 2008, and is recognized for its extensive green building practices. It opened Planet Adirondack in 2012. Today the Center continues to evolve, with programs that reach across New York State, and in some cases, including its successful Youth Summits, around the world. The Center's mission is to ignite new ways that people and nature can thrive together.
Specialties
The Wild Center was rated the number one attraction in the Adirondacks by the readers of Adirondack Life. The Center will add Wild Walk this summer, 1000 feet of bridges and platforms that will take visitors up and over a living Adirondack forest. It's all part of an 115-acre outdoor experience that includes a river and available canoes for guided river tours. The Center's campus also includes a 54,000 square foot museum designed by the same firm that created the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. It features live animals, multiple multimedia shows including Planet Adirondack, a free floating planet that shows how nature works across the globe. A large-screen theater screens films daily.