$10M Great Lakes Nature Center planned in suburban Detroit

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. — Plans call for a new $10 million nature center in suburban Detroit that will focus on the water and wildlife of the Great Lakes region.

The Detroit Zoological Society announced Tuesday that waterfront locations are being considered in Macomb County along Lake St. Clair, which is part of the Great Lakes system but isn't one of the Great Lakes itself. Officials hope the Great Lakes Nature Center will be open at the end of 2019.

The center will feature Great Lakes fish. It will include habitats for amphibians, reptiles, turtles, small mammals, shorebirds and birds of prey as well as a butterfly garden.

The center will be operated by the Detroit Zoological Society, which also operates the Detroit Zoo in Royal Oak and the Belle Isle Nature Center in Detroit.