Updating nature center at Catlin Park would be expensive, says parks director

If you go to Catlin Park west of Ottawa, you might see a barn that used to be a nature center. The LaSalle County Board Property Committee has been discussing whether the county should redo the building so schools could come and use it. But County Parks Director Ken Henze says it’s not going to happen.

Henze says the county would have to pay a lot of money to make the barn accessible to people with disabilities.

He says that he is looking into how much it would cost to build a smaller building that would house his office, a small kitchen, restrooms, and a small classroom. He says there is an interest for schools to come to the county and have a nature center to use.