About the Wildlife Discovery Center: 

Our Mission: “To build new generations of guardians and advocates for all wildlife and their habitat through sharing, caring, research and many adventures in conservation education.”

HISTORY
In 1996, with a passion for wildlife conservation and a $500 grant from the Chicago Herpetological Society, Rob Carmichael, current Curator at the Wildlife Discovery Center, launched a new program area for the City of Lake Forest’s Parks & Recreation Department, which became the Wildlife Discovery Center. What started out as a few after school nature classes and a summer camp, has become one of the area’s most important centers for wildlife education and conservation.
After relocating to Elawa Farm, adjacent to the 700-acre Middlefork Savanna, the Wildlife Discovery Center’s exhibits expanded and so did its program offerings. The center now reaches over 30,000 people annually with its wildlife conservation programming.