our mission
Our Mission
Dunwoody Nature Center inspires the love of nature and cultivates environmental understanding and stewardship by:
- Conserving and enhancing Dunwoody Park;
- Educating children, families and adults of all ages about the natural world and our place in it;
- Motivating environmental awareness and responsible action.
Vision
The Dunwoody Nature Center will build an exceptional nature center that promotes environmental literacy and serves as a nature based cultural enclave for community activity.
Values
The Dunwoody Nature Center will be guided by the following core values in achieving its mission and vision:
- Wonder: provide the opportunity to discover and experience the complexity, diversity, and wonder of nature.
- Community: Support the soul of Dunwoody and, through our activities, events, and personal connections, provide a pathway for all to be at home.
- Reverence: Respect, honor, and celebrate the natural world by modeling stewardship in all that we do.
- Commitment: Bring unparalleled energy and professionalism to each task, and motivate others to do the same.
Environmental Improvement philosophy
Our mission includes preserving and protecting Dunwoody Park for the enjoyment of our community. Our philosophy focuses on:
- Removing invasive, nonnative plants and replacing them with native species
- Avoiding mowing, trimming, brush removal and deadheading, to allow plants, shrubs, and trees to continue their life cycles
- Cutting fallen trees only when necessary to unblock trails or reroute trails around fallen trees
- Isolating garbage cans to picnic areas
- Reminding dog owners to respect the leash and poop scoop law
educational philosophy
Every visitor to the park, participant in a class, and volunteer has the opportunity to see environmental education in action. We believe in:
- Opening eyes and minds to the beauty of nature
- Providing information about the plants and animals native to Dunwoody and the Piedmont
- Exploring the relationships among all inhabitants of the area, and the impact human activities have on the environment
- Training children to be “backyard naturalists”
- Providing educational experiences that appeal to different learning styles
serving our community
- 30,000+ park visitors annually
- 17,000+ served through camps, programs or education center visitation
- 7 grades (K-6) of students from throughout the state attend field study programs
- 12 months of scheduled nature classes for children, adult programs, special events, overnight camping programs, field trips for school and scout groups, and outreach programs to area schools
diversity, equity, and inclusion policy
At the Dunwoody Nature Center, we recognize that the strength and effectiveness with which we pursue our mission are directly related to our people – our staff, our board, our visitors, and our volunteers. The diversity of our collective backgrounds and experiences, individual differences, capabilities, and talents only serves to enrich our work and build community. Accordingly, the Dunwoody Nature Center is committed to fostering a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. We embrace and encourage differences in age, color, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and other characteristics that make each person unique.
We strive to treat others with dignity and respect at all times, and support inclusiveness in all our endeavors.