The Louisville Nature Center (LNC) was founded in 1964 with a mission was to promote and inspire environmental stewardship. Sixty years later, the heart of LNC’s mission is still the same: to be a catalyst for conservation through environmental education and connection to nature for every person. Our vision is a community where everyone is inspired to be stewards of the natural world.

In addition to restoring about 80 acres of urban forest, LNC works to teach the public about sustainability, nature, and environmental education. In a time when Louisville has the fastest-growing urban heat island affect in the country, our work is crucial for the prosperity of our community!

We work with people from all over Greater Louisville, including 4,500 school-age youth each year via camps, field trips, family programs, the Cultural Pass, and our Swallowtail Forest School, urban Louisville’s first nature preschool.

Our Center is unique in Louisville: in addition to our live native reptiles on display, the Bird Blind, large Sensory Garden and Rain Gardens, and Nature Play Area offer free opportunities to the public to view birds and wildlife, immerse themselves in nature, engage in interpretive displays, or learn more in our library and discovery room. In 2020 we created the first nature-based preschool program in urban Louisville, the Swallowtail Forest School.

Our center has become too small, outdated, and worn out. We are undergoing a new Site Capital Improvement Planning process and interior renovations so that we can continue to provide the community with the quality environmental education people need to be good stewards of our earth, and to be informed community members shaping our future. A city the size of Louisville needs a high-quality nature center, and LNC is ready to cement our role as the hub of environmental education in Louisville now and in the future. We invite you to help shape the future of conservation in Louisville!

LNC's Enchanted Forest 60th Birthday Gala