Volunteers Rally Support to Rebuild Eaton Canyon : Nature: Since the October fires destroyed the park facility, volunteers have been working to raise the funds to improve and expand the structure.

Eaton Canyon Nature Center is the kind of place that gets lemons and makes lemonade.

After the October wildfires scorched the center’s 184-acre wilderness park and burned down its building, park supporters spent little time lamenting the loss. And the center’s director blissfully announced: “We’ll have a fantastic fire ecology park.”

Since then, busloads of children and carloads of hikers have been watching how nature responds to a fire. And the county and park volunteers are in the process of not only rebuilding the structure, but adding and improving, perhaps with new wildlife exhibits or medicinal-plant gardens.

An upcoming public hearing will give people a chance to offer more ideas. It is set for 7 p.m. April 28 at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, 301 Baldwin Ave., Arcadia.

After that, the county will draw up preliminary building plans to determine how much funding will be needed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state Office of Emergency Services have agreed to cover the bulk of the rebuilding costs, which county officials estimate will amount to more than $2.5 million.

That only covers the cost of building a center identical to the original. Volunteers who have long supported the park hope to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to make the new center even better.

The old Eaton Canyon Nature Center structure, built in 1963, was a 5,300-square-foot stucco building. It had a gift shop, library, 186-seat auditorium, and geology, plant and animal exhibits.

After the first of the public meetings on the new center was held, several suggestions surfaced. For instance, some want the new center to be made of more costly materials, possibly an adobe-like substance that is supposed to be sturdy and fireproof, and blend in well with the natural surroundings. Many supporters would also like energy-efficient heating and cooling systems to be installed.

Another suggestion is that the old center’s auditorium be replaced by a multipurpose room with a kitchen. That room could be rented for meetings.

Also proposed are bee and bat exhibits.