Visitor Center

Completed in 2004 and located 1.5 miles north of the village of La Farge on State Highway 131, the Kickapoo Valley Reserve Visitor Center is a beautiful addition to the Reserve that graces the river valley and melds with the landscape.

The KVR Visitor Center features an expansive block of south-facing windows to take advantage of passive solar heating and a great view. Trees harvested from the Reserve have been used in faux pillars in the lobby, exhibit panel holders, benches, window trim, front desk (including glulam counters), the director's desk, and several furniture pieces.

Completed in November 2022, a redesigned Discovery Center inside the KVR Visitor Center features history, geology, recreation, dark sky and cultural information important to the property and community.

The KVR Visitor Center is available for a fee to the public for meetings, special events, educational workshops, seminars, weddings, family reunions, and guided tours. (Find a facility fee schedule here.)

Noteworthy numbers:

8,300 square feet complete the main building.
31 trees were harvested during the reconstruction of Highway 131 for a total of 11,000 board feet that are used in the Center. Products are featured in exhibits to illustrate the importance of the timber industry in the valley.
35 pine logs were peeled by volunteers and high school students for the former exhibit center.
Over 20,000 guests annually go through the Visitor Center.
3 loops, made up of 33 trenches (each 300 feet long and containing 600 lineal feet of piping for a total pipe length of 19,800 feet filled with a glycol solution) make up the geothermal heating and cooling system to serve the eight heat pumps.
$2.5 million dollars was the total construction cost of the Center through the State of Wisconsin's Knowles Nelson Stewardship Fund and Kickapoo Valley Reserve agency funds.
149 former landowners' names are written into bricks in the entryway.

Winter Hours:

November 1 - Memorial Day

Mon. - Sat.
8 am - 4:30 pm

Sunday & Holidays
CLOSED

Summer Hours: Memorial Day - November 1

Mon- Sat
8am - 4:30pm

Sun & Holidays
10am - 4pm

Directions

The Kickapoo Reserve Management Board acknowledges that the state and federal lands that comprise the Reserve fall within the ancestral homelands of First Nations people including the Hooçak Nation. We recognize the sovereignty of the Hooçak and other First Nations and will work towards a shared future by continuing to create collaborative opportunities to protect and preserve these lands.

Kickapoo Valley Reserve | S3661 State Highway 131 | La Farge, Wisconsin 54639
Phone: 608-625-2960 | FAX: 608-625-2962
kickapoo.reserve@krm.state.wi.us