The path from the parking area curves around a serpentine knoll and between two large oaks, gradually revealing behind bermed earth this structure that appears as traces of history in the landscape. In all the design options, the Outdoor Learning Center is destined to be less a building than a landform. Low, heavy structures, growing out of the earth, make use of local materials: gabion baskets filled with local sandstone, chert or serpentine rock, form windbreak walls of varying heights. Sinuous gabion walls curve around a gathering space for sixty people, and offer protection from the strong southern morning winds and  the powerful western afternoon winds that whistle through this valley. A painted frame of lightweight steel supports a corrugated Corten roof, in butterfly or lightwell formation, and discharges rainwater into a heavy scupper and out into rocky swales.

The gabion walls enclose an additional vault toilet as well as a storage area with barn-style sliding doors; the doors serve double duty as projection surface for presentations. A photovoltaic system with stand-alone battery storage will provide enough power to charge Rangers’ radios and patrons’ wheelchairs – and even musical equipment and safety lights for the community events which take place in Coyote Valley several times a year.