Riveredge programs offer students the opportunity to experience and investigate the natural environment under the guidance of skilled environmental educators. Emphasizing outdoor experiences in all seasons, the Riveredge “style” is characterized by small group learning that encourages inquiry, exploration, and problem-solving. Through the process of science-based, hands-on inquiry, learners build their own answers. The Riveredge sanctuary, now 379 acres, is a “learning laboratory” that is at the center of its educational opportunities. The biodiversity of the land at Riveredge provides a teaching tool for understanding interconnectedness, development of specific sustainable systems for energy, shelter, food, waste, water, and land management and is integrated into Riveredge’s programming. A signature program is their Sturgeon Restoration Initiative. Each year, 1,000 to 1,500 eggs are raised in a streamside rearing facility on Riveredge Nature Center’s grounds. There, the eggs are immersed in circulating water straight from the Milwaukee River, allowing them to imprint on the river, or in other words, be more likely to return there when they are finally ready to begin the spawning process.
