Houston Nature Center

03/31/2026

Are you interested in participating in the La Crosse County Annual Midwest Crane Count on Saturday, April 18th from 5:30-7:30 am? If you are new to the event, you can check out details by visiting the International Crane Foundation website.
You can be given your own location OR be paired with an experienced counter. If interested or have questions, please email La Crosse County Crane Count Coordinator, Jean Ledman at [email protected].
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Coulee Region Audubon
P.O Box 2573
La Crosse, WI
54602-2573
http://couleeaudubon.org/
https://www.facebook.com/CouleeRegionAudubon/

The Coulee Region Audubon Society was organized by bird watchers and environmentalists to enhance their understanding and enjoyment of nature, and to share their appreciation with others in the La Crosse area.

01/06/2026

EVENT THIS SUNDAY! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

12/19/2025

Knock, knock. Who’s there? A screech owl! While the YCC put this nest box up for kestrels, we are happy to announce that a screech owl has found it. This picture is from 11:00 a.m. this morning.

10/30/2025

What’s up along the trail?

One local trail user saw this interesting find about a half mile west of the Nature Center on the south side of the trail. We think the ground bee nest was dug up by a skunk. How about you? Have you seen anything like this before?

09/06/2025

Update on the bike trail below:

The paved Root River State Trail meanders 42 miles alongside the Root River from Fountain to Houston. Constructed on an abandoned railroad, the trail is generally level and wheelchair accessible except for a steep half-mile segment between Vinegar Ridge and Houston that may be challenging for some v...

07/31/2025

07/31/2025

See below for bike trail update!

Just got word that the downed trees have been cleared from the trail! You’ll still have sticks to watch out for so use caution! Thanks MN DNR for the quick cleanup!

07/29/2025

See below for an update on the bike trail. Stay safe everyone.

With the big winds last night there are trees down everywhere on the Root River Trail. The DNR has informed us that they have crews out beginning the cleanup process. I will update when I get word that things are opened up! Stay safe friends!

10/19/2024

Update for the Electric Vehicle Charging Stations at the Houston Community. There is now a fee to use. Information at Charging Stations.

01/13/2023

We are collaborating with Explore Minnesota, Root River Trail Towns and the State of Minnesota, so that Nature Center visitors, Root River bike trail users and others may access local, regional, and Minnesota wide, travel/tourism information. Stop into the HNC, an Explore Minnesota affiliate, to pick up information, free of charge, when planning your next vacation/ adventure.

08/24/2022

Stop in to the Houston Nature Center during our open hours and ask for details on how to check out your "Explore Nature backpack"!

09/30/2020

Thank you to Don’s Repair, Don Chapel for the labor and talent to recoat the bike racks and to all those who donated to cover the cost of the coating materials. We hope visitors notice the improvement to the bike racks and enjoy many more years of use.