About the National Discovery Center
Two of the core tenants of American Prairie are providing education about the prairie and access to the land. The National Discovery Center is a rendezvous point for visitors going to the prairie, a vibrant place for community building and partnership, and an important educational resource on the importance of grassland ecosystems to the health of our planet. The National Discovery Center is located a short drive from the prairie in Lewistown, Montana. It is open to the public and hosts an ever-growing lineup of local, regional, and national activities and programs that stir visitors to love and want to preserve the prairie and all of its inhabitants.
Located in the renovated Power Mercantile building, the National Discovery Center features interactive exhibits about the prairie ecosystem, community meeting spaces, and a film theater. The Exhibit Hall includes interactive exhibits and the Night Sky Theater that explore the nuances of the prairie ecosystem. The Talpins Children’s Center gives kids their own place to play and learn about the prairie. The Clyde Aspevig Event Center, which provides flexible spaces for events, presentations, and meetings with state-of-the-art technology. The Ken Burns American Heritage Theater offers a variety of films that introduce visitors to American Prairie, its mission, and the prairie ecosystem.
Location: 302 W Main St Lewistown, MT 59457
Hours: Thursday-Saturday from 10am-4pm
Upcoming Events
June
7
2025
Eco-Critters with ZooMontana
Jun 7 / 10:00am–4:00pm
Zoo Montana, in partnership with American Prairie, will bring a variety of live animal ambassadors from Montana and around the world to Lewistown and the National Discovery Center. Visitors get a close-up view of the critters and learn about them from Zoo Montana staff. Educational stations showcase skeletons, hides, and other exciting features related to the animal guests! Free admission.
June
16
2025
Bumble Bee Ecology, Conservation, and Community Science through the Bumble Bee Atlas
Jun 16 / 7:00pm
Michelle Toshack, a Conservation Biologist with the Montana Bumblebee Atlas will present on the the ecology of bumble bees, including their life cycle, nesting habits, and unique adaptations. She will also discuss the major threats they face, and why species such as the western bumble bee (Bombus occidentalis) and the Suckley cuckoo bumble bee (B. suckleyi) are of conservation concern. There are a number of actions that everyone can take to protect pollinators, including contributing data to The Montana Bumble Bee Atlas. Community science is a powerful tool for volunteers to support meaningful research and conservation. By working together, we can ensure Montana’s bumble bees—and the ecosystems they support—thrive for generations to come. PLEASE NOTE: This event will take place in the Labyrinth Community Garden in Frank Day Park.
July
5
2025
Eco-Critters with ZooMontana
Jul 5 / 10:00am–4:00pm
Zoo Montana, in partnership with American Prairie, will bring a variety of live animal ambassadors from Montana and around the world to Lewistown and the National Discovery Center. Visitors get a close-up view of the critters and learn about them from Zoo Montana staff. Educational stations showcase skeletons, hides, and other exciting features related to the animal guests! Free admission.
July
12
2025
Montana Chamber Music Concert
Jul 12 / 2:00pm
Join us for a piano quintet featuring five world-class musical artists from Montana Chamber Music! The quintet is led by violinist Angella Ahn, Artistic Director of Montana Chamber Music. The concert will feature classical compositions for piano and stringed instruments and will take place in the Clyde Aspevig Event Center at the National Discovery Center. This event is free and open to the public.
August
9
2025
Eco-Critters with ZooMontana
Aug 9 / 10:00am–4:00pm
Zoo Montana, in partnership with American Prairie, will bring a variety of live animal ambassadors from Montana and around the world to Lewistown and the National Discovery Center. Visitors get a close-up view of the critters and learn about them from Zoo Montana staff. Educational stations showcase skeletons, hides, and other exciting features related to the animal guests! Free admission.
September
4
2025
The Art of John Isaiah Pepion
Sep 4 / 7:00pm
American Prairie will exhibit the works of Plains Indian graphic artist, John Isaiah Pepion. Pepion is from the Piikani Band of the Blackfoot Confederacy based out of the Blackfeet reservation in north-central Montana. He is best known for his ledger art, which is an art tradition that developed in Plains tribes when buffalo hide traditionally used for painting became scarce. As a result of this scarcity, Plains people adapted by making artwork on ledger paper from accounting books. Pepion comes from a family of artists, and ledger art has been in his family for hundreds of years. The exhibition will run from September 4 through December. Free admission.
September
6
2025
Eco-Critters with ZooMontana
Sep 6 / 10:00am–4:00pm
Zoo Montana, in partnership with American Prairie, will bring a variety of live animal ambassadors from Montana and around the world to Lewistown and the National Discovery Center. Visitors get a close-up view of the critters and learn about them from Zoo Montana staff. Educational stations showcase skeletons, hides, and other exciting features related to the animal guests! Free admission.
October
23
2025
Indigikitchen
Oct 23–24
As part of American Prairie’s Annual Celebration of Indigenous Peoples, we welcome Mariah Gladstone and Indigikitchen to Lewistown for a two-day event. Indigikitchen, a mixture of Indigenous, digital, and kitchen, is an online cooking show dedicated to re-indigenizing our diets using digital media. Employing foods native to the Americas, Indigikitchen gives viewers the important tools they need to find and prepare food in their own communities. Beyond that, it strengthens the ties to Native cultures and reminds them of the inherent worth of Indigenous identities while fueling our physical bodies. Mariah Gladstone (Blackfeet, Cherokee), grew up in Northwest Montana. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Environmental Engineering and returned home where she developed Indigikitchen. Mariah has been recognized as a “Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellow” through the First Nations Development Institute, a “Culture of Health Leader” through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and an MIT Solve Indigenous Communities Fellow. She serves on the board of the FAST (Food Access and Sustainability Team) Blackfeet. Mariah completed her Master’s Degree at SUNY – ESF through the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment.
November
8
2025
Tenacious Beasts: A Presentation and Book Signing with Christopher Preston
Nov 8 / 1:00pm
Join award-winning author and environmental philosopher Christopher Preston for a presentation and book-signing at the National Discovery Center. Raised in England and currently living in Missoula, his books and articles explore wildlife, technology, justice, climate change, and other topics that relate to how we live. Preston’s works have appeared in The Atlantic, Smithsonian, Discover, Orion, Slate, the Wall Street Journal, The Conversation, Salon, The BBC, Yale E360, and other publications. His latest book is "Tenacious Beasts: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals," which won the 2024 High Plains International Book Award for non-fiction and was included in The New Yorker’s ‘Best Books of 2023.’ This event is free and open to the public.