Dunwoody Nature Center opens new vistas with Wildcat Creek boardwalk | Dunwoody News

DUNWOODY, Ga. — The Dunwoody Nature Center celebrated its new and improved wooden boardwalk along Wildcat Creek Nov. 10.

The upgrades make it easier for visitors of all ages and abilities to explore and enjoy the natural environment, replacing the more than 20-year-old walkway with a new winding boardwalk above the 100-year floodplain.

Dunwoody Nature Center Executive Director Nancy Longacre said the project has been a long time in the making.

“It is incredibly rewarding to see it come to life,” Longacre said. “Today, we celebrate the completion of a truly transformational project, one that honors our commitment to protecting and restoring the natural beauty of Wildcat Creek, while also deepening our connection to the special place.”

The new 600-foot boardwalk is higher, longer and wider than the old one, proving ADA access to playgrounds on the eastern end. Along the boardwalk, there are outdoor classrooms for studying Dunwoody’s aquatic resources, plus seating and observation decks.

Longacre said the old boardwalk was “a path to nowhere” and dilapidated from stormwater runoff and erosion.

Work crews stabilized the banks along Wildcat Creek by adding rock along the water’s edge, installed a log vane to channel water toward the center of the stream and improved grading.

They also removed invasive plants from existing wetlands and planted native vegetation to restore the native forested wetland habitat.

At the Nov. 10 ribbon cutting, most of the native vegetation was in infancy, ready to explode in the spring.

The idea for the project came from one of the city’s former stormwater managers, Carl Thomas, who returned to Lowe Engineers as a senior project manager in 2024.

“The plan was just to install the boardwalk,” said Thomas, a certified floodplain manager. “The previous parks director and I were having a discussion about it and learning a lot about the history of farmland areas that were being impacted by a certain practice.”

Around the turn of the 20th century, Georgia farmers had no heavy machinery and used dynamite to clear and flatten wooded areas, often all the way up to the edge of local waterways.

Thomas said the practice occurred on the site of the Dunwoody Nature Center more than 100 years ago.

It’s why there are no old growth trees and the land is terraced. Visitors at the city park can still see where farmers placed explosives to flatten the sloped property, slow down water runoff and create more arable land.

“The first aerial images were taken in the late 1930s … this whole area was clear,” Thomas said. “Probably won’t see it in a couple of years once [the vegetation] grows back up. But now that it’s clear, you can actually see these ‘steps’ where the land has been undisturbed since the early 1900s.”

The project took off once Dunwoody staff realized the explosive farming practice was sanctioned by the U.S. government, allowing the city to pursue federal funding.

Thomas said his team has found several similar projects throughout Metro Atlanta.

With the 21st century’s emphasis on sustainability and environmental preservation, there won’t be any sanctioned dynamite explosions near streams anytime soon. In communities where the practice occurred, federal funding may be available to restore the natural habitat.

The project was funded through the city’s stormwater reserve and a $600,000 grant from the state’s Environmental Protection Division. The total construction cost was $1.72 million.

“The new boardwalk is elevated above the 100-year floodplain, reconnecting the wetland and stream ecosystems while also providing better access to educational areas at the Nature Center,” Dunwoody Stormwater Engineer Cody Dallas said. “Restoring the wetlands and stabilizing the streambanks improve water quality and increase habitat for wildlife.”