Other stories in "Environmental centers"

• Escape to Eagle Bluff
  A center near Lanesboro welcomes families for weekends filled with nature and good food.
• Playground in the woods
  At Deep Portage, adults take a tip from the kids.

Minnesota's environmental learning centers

A weekend at an ELC is fun for all ages, and a bargain to boot.

There are seven residential learning centers in Minnesota. All are non-profit, funded by a variety of governmental entities and private foundations, and serve the public at large as well as Minnesota schoolchildren.

All hold day programs, and some schedule special weekends for families or groups of friends. They also can be rented for retreats and family reunions.

Audubon Center of the North Woods: This center near Sandstone in eastern Minnesota, off the Willard Munger State Trail, has a high-ropes course and indoor climbing wall. 1-888-404-7743, www.audubon-center.com.

Deep Portage Conservation Reserve: This comfortable center on 10 square miles of forest near Hackensack, north of Brainerd, offers Family Winter Weekends for $100, $85 for children 5-17 and $300 for four in one room, includes lodging, meals and gear for snowshoeing, skiing and ice-fishing (See Playground in the woods).

Guests stay in 27 dorm-style rooms, some disabled-accessible, that sleep six to 10 and each have a full bathroom. Bedding, pillows and towels are not provided. Regular rate for a two-night, three-day weekend is $115 per person, including six buffet-style meals. Refrigerators are available for guests' use. The lodge will open for a non-scheduled weekend if it's reserved by a group of 20 or more. 888-280-9908, www.deep-portage.org.

Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center: This center near Lanesboro in southeast Minnesota has a high-ropes course and indoor climbing wall. It offers a Family Getaway Weekend with winter survival classes, maple-syruping and stargazing. Cost of $75, $60 for children under 18, includes lodging and meals. 1-888-800-9558, www.eagle-bluff.org.

Laurentian Environmental Center: This center on the Iron Range, near Virginia, has an outdoor climbing wall and sauna. It offers a dog-mushing program that also includes instruction in cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and skijoring (skiing while being pulled by a dog). Ice fishing is available, too. Cost is $225 per person, including lodgings and meals. Call 1-888-749-1288, www.laurentiancenter.com.

Long Lake Conservation Center: This center, north of Mille Lacs near Palisade, was the first in the state. 1-800-450-5522, www.llcc.org.

Prairie Wetlands Learning Center: This center on the edge of Fergus Falls, in western Minnesota, is operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1-218-736-0938, www.fws.gov/midwest/pwlc.

Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center: This beautiful campus in the hills above the North Shore, near Finland, has two indoor climbing walls, two ropes courses and a ski chalet. It offers a weeklong family vacation in summer and a fall hiking weekend. 1-800-523-2733, www.wolf-ridge.org.

Last updated on June 17, 2008