(upbeat music) - The Outdoor Adventure Center, such a cool place.

Can you just tell us, like, what is the concept behind this center?

- Basically, we do bring the Up North downtown.

So everything that you can see in the beautiful Up North, we try to bring it here and expose people to our natural resources throughout the state.

- Why is it important to bring that Up North of Michigan to the city of Detroit?

- I think part of the reason is because we wanna make sure that everybody knows what we have to offer in this beautiful state.

And so for, you know, people who grew up in the city and don't travel much outside of the city, they can explore what we have to offer.

And we hope that they take the chance and go and visit our beautiful state parks throughout the state.

- And just what the State of Michigan has available.

Because I'm sure a lot of people come here and think, "Oh, I didn't know we had mines.

I didn't know that we had sand dunes."

You know, how do you see people come here, and their minds kind of open up to all the beauty that we have here in the State of Michigan?

- That's the great part about working here, is that we see that inspiration.

And we see people ask more questions and ask where they can find more information.

You know, where can I get my fishing license?

Do you have any suggestions about good fishing spots?

You know, that is really exciting, to see that people, you know, make that connection and then wanna know more about how to explore.

- [Sara] When people come to the Outdoor Adventure Center, what can they expect as they walk through the doors?

- They can expect to feel like they're outside, which a lot of people, you know, before they know what we are, they're surprised that it's all inside.

But really, you know, when you're inside, you feel like you're outside.

- What are the hands-on exhibits that people can explore?

- It's actually more than just hands-on.

It's full-body exhibits.

So we have fishing, which actually is simulated to make it feel like you're catching a fish.

We have a snowmobile that you can ride, an ATV you can ride, bikes you can ride, and then the tree, of course.

That you can climb inside to the top of the tree and peek out and see, you know, all the branches.

And actually, in the tree there's birds and owls and bugs and all kinds of nature that you can explore inside the tree.

- How do you inspire people to go out to the state parks?

- That's actually one of our new exhibits this year.

We have an interactive state park map, which is conveniently located in our campground exhibit.

And so you can, you know, touch and see the entire map of Michigan and explore what those campgrounds have to offer.

And other, you know, state parks.

It's not just campgrounds.

And another thing, that we do a lot of fun activities and educational promotions for the state parks.

Another thing that we do is we have a State Park Madness competition, which is on Facebook.

You can also vote in person.

But we put the brackets on our window so that people can vote for their favorite state park.

And then at our DNR Parks and Recreation in-service, we're going to present the trophy to the winners.

- How long has the Outdoor Adventure Center been around?

And how have you expanded through the years?

- We opened in July of 2015, and every year we do add something new.

So we're always looking for ways to expand what we offer.

And I think that's really another exciting thing about working here, is, you know, exploring, well, you know, what can we add?

And working with the wonderful people and the rest of the DNR to see what ideas they have.

Like, right now we're working with forestry to expand all of our forestry exhibits.

So it's really exciting.

We have a very unique building that is one of a kind in the country.

There's no other DNR that operates a building like this.

So definitely come and stop by and see what Michigan has to offer.

(upbeat music)