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The Hi-Desert Nature Museum is a great place to go if you are looking for a little taste of the outdoors… indoors. Museum director Celeste Hildebrand sums it up best:
Celeste: “It’s an amazing place that has a little bit of everything. Our museum is unique – we have natural history, we have art, we have cultural exhibits. Our museum takes a little bit of everything from the Morongo Basin and the hi-desert and combines it into one family-friendly place for visitors and locals to come enjoy and learn about our desert.”
The museum has been around since 1964 when it was founded by Evelyn Conklin and her father Percy, along with long-time desert resident Camilla Hudson and Jerry Moore…
Celeste: “…who was the Director of the Parks and Recreation district at that time. (He) put out a call for recreation activities in the local newspaper. Evelyn responded with an idea for her nature museum. She had previously opened a nature museum down in San Dimas, and so she had experience with it. She had collections as a naturalist, and her idea was accepted and the nature museum was born.”
Evelyn Conklin served as the curator for the museum for 28 years. She still lives in the Morongo Basin, and recently turned 97. In 1973 the museum moved to where it is now – at the Yucca Valley Community Center Complex. It wasn’t the town of Yucca Valley back then, the area became officially incorporated as a Town in 1991 and the museum became a division of the Community Services Department.
Although the name says “nature,” that’s just a small but essential part of what the museum offers. Our area has a rich culture and history, as well as an active art community. Here’s the Hi-Desert Nature Museum’s collections and exhibits coordinator, Charlie Rossow:
Charlie Rossow: “We do have a rotating gallery that changes three of four times a year. There’s some long traditions of exhibits that have been there that people find interesting. Then we rent exhibits as well, from loaning facilities. We try in every way possible to bring collections out from storage that haven’t been seen in a while and try to make those relevant to our current exhibits or for things that may be happening locally.”
This was from an interview a couple weeks back on the “Up Close Show with Gary Daigneault,” and Gary knew the right questions to ask:
Gary Daigneault: “What’s one of the oldest exhibits that Evelyn had?”
Charlie: “One that is really well known is our globe room. We have some blacklights that show how certain rocks fluoresce under UV light. This is probably the most often asked for exhibit. When people come in, they ask ‘do you still have that UV room?’ Yes we still have it!”
I have to admit, I totally forgot about the UV room. I have to go back and lucky for me and you – the Hi-Desert Nature Museum is completely free to visit, although donations are encouraged. And it doesn’t quite matter yet, but in just a few weeks you’ll be happy to know that the Hi-Desert Nature Museum is comfortably air-conditioned, too.
The current exhibit is a popular returning favorite – Metamorphosis, now its its 20th year. Hi-desert artists repurpose trash to make some really great and fun artwork. Definitely visit the museum before it leaves on May 11th- making room for a new hands-on exhibit that focuses on traveling called “From Here to There” which makes its debut on May 23rd.
I suggest picking up a sticker for a dollar on the way out, and don’t sleep on visiting those glowing rocks and minerals in the UV room – you’ll probably find me in there staring into the iridescent glow.
Don’t miss out on all the native flowers around the museum and the Yucca Valley Community Center, too.
You can listen to the full interview with the Hi-Desert Nature Museum below, or subscribe to our shows as a podcast.
