Fresh off the opening of its new Wonders of Water exhibit, the Rochester Museum and Science Center is turning its attention to …. a treehouse.
“A very, very interactive sort of tree house, in the trees experience down at the [Cumming] Nature Center,” said Hillary Olson, president and CEO of the museum, which operates the 900-acre preserve in Naples.
Olson likens the project to the Wild Center at Tupper Lake, where the Wild Walk takes visitors out to the treetops. Here, it would be mid-tree level, accessible with strollers or by wheelchair.
Construction of Treehouse Village, as the project is called, is still some time off. First the money needs to be raised.
The museum kicked off the public phase and final leg of an overall $10 million capital campaign last week. Money raised so far has paid for renovations at the museum at East Avenue and South Goodman Street, and the adjacent Strasenburgh Planetarium.
RMSC leases that property, including the buildings, from the city for $1 a year.
Project costs for Treehouse Village are estimated at $1.5 million.
“We're hoping to finish this campaign by the end of 2023, or at least the middle of 2024,” Olson said.
Then the treehouse construction could begin.
The project could help the nature center expand its audience, to those who want to explore nature but don’t get excited by the idea of a hike in the wild.
“Something that feels a little bit like a treehouse or a fort is more accessible to them,” Olson said. “And they're more excited about that. And it will bring them out into the nature center in a completely different way.”
The nature center is closed now, giving time for maintenance and winter preparations, but is scheduled to re-open Dec. 14.
