NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Audubon Nature Institute says work will begin this summer toward reopening an 86-acre eastern New Orleans nature center closed since Hurricane Katrina.

The Audubon Louisiana Nature Center is in Joe Brown Park, which was under six feet of water for a month after the hurricane hit in August 2005, destroying buildings and nature walks and damaging its forests.

The Audubon Commission voted last week to award a $7 million construction contract to BelouMagner Construction of Metairie.

Plans include a planetarium, an 8,500-square-foot exhibit pavilion, a glass and steel greenhouse botany center, classrooms, interactive educational exhibits, a network of trails and covered boardwalks, extensive landscaping and parking. Exhibits will be easily moveable to create indoor space for community events.

Work on a maintenance building has begun.

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