Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center

About Us

Located within a half hour of the Twin Cities, near the confluence of the St. Croix and Mississippi Rivers, Carpenter St. Croix Valley Nature Center provides a unique opportunity for you to learn and explore the outdoors. With property on both the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides of the scenic St. Croix River, we are able to preserve wildlife habitat while also providing educational opportunities. Hiking trails wind throughout the tall pines, oak savanna, restored prairies, wooded ravines, around the apple orchard, and along the river of the 425 acre Main Campus. Carpenter's main Minnesota campus is just north of US Highway 10, near Hastings, MN and Prescott, WI on the south end of Minnesota's scenic St. Croix Trail.  Open 8:00am to 4:30 pm excluding Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day. It his home to the Visitor's Center which has world-class exhibits with live animals on display and a raptor mews featuring a Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, Red-tailed Hawk and Great Horned Owl. With over 10 miles of hiking trails, three-and-a-half which are paved to accommodate persons with mobility limitations, you will see a vast variety of plant and animal communities. Wildlife abounds in the restored prairie and wooded bluffs on the 300-acre Wisconsin Nature Preserve.