Outdoor programming at the Leslie Science and Nature Center in Ann Arbor will resume this fall after a $535,000 soil remediation project was completed this summer.
The center’s annual Halloween event, Animal Haunts, is scheduled to kick off on October 23rd. It’s the first event in over 15 months being hosted on-site by the center since elevated levels of arsenic and lead, among other pollutants, were found in May of 2019 when the soil was tested to build a playscape. After the remediation project was completed, state officials determined that the remaining soil impacts do not pose an unacceptable risk of exposure to site visitors. Susan Westhoff is the executive director of the center.
Susan Westhoff: Programming is typically over half of our revenue so the last 15 months have been very interesting. With COVID people are going outside, which is wonderful for us to see and we highly encourage people going outside. We’re hoping to actually deliver more programs through the winter.
While the contaminated soil was removed and deposited in a landfill, to be extra safe, the center plans to build the playscape on a different part of the property later this fall.
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— Jorge Avellan is a reporter for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him javellan@emich.edu
