The Great Outdoors
Nature Center
7409 Knickerbocker Rd.
The San Angelo Nature Center is a regional museum and learning
center located at Lake Nasworthy in Mary Lee Park. Features
include dramatic displays, hiking trails and a small collection
of live animals. The Discovery Room includes a small reference
library. The Xeriscape Garden has developed a display of native
shrubs, trees and flowers.
The center offers programs and special events for all ages,
including after-school programs and summer camps. Hours are
from 12 to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Please call 325-942-0121
for interpretive tours.
The Nature Center also manages two nature trail systems for
visitors to enjoy.
Nature Trail at Spillway Road is a one-mile
trail that takes visitors through three different ecosystems
found in the immediate area. The trail forms a loop over 60
acres along the Middle Concho River at the end of Spillway
Road. To get to the trail, take Knickerbocker Road past Mathis
Field, then turn right on Spillway Road. The parking lot is
about two miles in, on the right. The trail is open during
daylight hours year-round. Twenty-two markers along the trail
correspond to a guide that is available at the Nature Center
museum. This guide identifies tracks and provides information
and pictures of some of the grasses, shrubs and trees that
form this preserve. Evidence of animals that reside here includes
deer, raccoon, bobcat, turkey, quail, great horned owl, cottontail
rabbit and other rodents, and, of course, the armadillo.
Spring Creek Wetland, an unusual occurrence for West Texas, is a 260-acre property being developed as a recreational and educational area by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation and the San Angelo Nature Center Association, Inc. More than seven miles of trail system lead visitors through the changing terrain, from a semi-arid environment to a freshwater marsh. A trail map is available at the Nature Center museum.
Spring Creek Wetland is accessed from Knickerbocker Road approximately 100 yards south of Mathis Field Airport. Turn right through the ranch gate, and bear right into the parking area. This area is open from 9 a.m. to noon on the second and third Saturday of each month for self-guided tours. Interpreted tours, conducted by Nature Center naturalists, are available on a limited basis. To make reservations call 325-942-0121.
