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MATTHEW HENSON EARTH CONSERVATION CENTER

2000 Half Street SW

Washington, DC 20024

The Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center was created through a partnership between Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO), the National Park Service, Mayor Anthony Williams, and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). This collaboration led to the adaptive reuse of a historic former PEPCO pump house and substation, transforming the site into a vibrant community and environmental education center.

Fueled by Washington, D.C.’s first Brownfield grant, the project engaged the U.S. Navy Seabees, who helped transform a forgotten triangle of National Park land that had once been used as a dumping ground into a living laboratory now known as the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center.

The Center continued to blaze new trails when River of Hope installed the first green roof in the District of Columbia, helping pave the way for the many green roofs that followed throughout the District.

Today, the Center and the surrounding Henson Park serve as an outdoor classroom and training ground for youth throughout the community. Through programs and hands-on projects—including the River Walk, green roof, rain gardens, trails, and Guns to Roses—thousands of young people have gained valuable environmental knowledge, job skills, and real-world experience. Many of these participants have gone on to become employed adults, carrying the skills and experiences they gained at the Henson Center into their careers and communities.

The Matthew Henson Center is home to our Wildlife Tracking, Species Reintroduction & Raptor Ambassadors.

Matthew Henson: A Legacy of Exploration and Perseverance

Matthew Henson was a pioneering American explorer whose courage, skill, and determination helped make some of the most challenging Arctic expeditions of the early 20th century possible. As a trusted companion of Robert E. Peary, Henson spent years exploring the Arctic, traveling thousands of miles by dogsled, navigating harsh terrain, learning the Inuit language, and developing an extraordinary knowledge of survival in the Arctic environment.

Despite his critical contributions—including his role in the 1909 expedition to the North Pole—Henson did not receive the recognition he deserved during his lifetime. As an African

American man in an era defined by racial discrimination, his accomplishments were often overshadowed by those of his white expedition partner. While Peary received the National Geographic Society’s prestigious Hubbard Medal in 1906, Henson would wait nearly a century for the same honor.

In 2000, the National Geographic Society posthumously awarded Henson the Hubbard Medal, its highest honor. His great-niece, Audrey Mebane, accepted the medal at the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center in Washington, D.C.—a place created to honor Henson’s legacy and inspire future generations.

The Earth Conservation Corps is proud to be part of that legacy. Our connection to Matthew Henson represents more than a name on a building—it represents a commitment to exploration, environmental stewardship, perseverance, and creating opportunities for young people to discover their own potential.

Today, the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center continues to serve as a place where young people learn, work, explore, and build skills while connecting with the natural world. In honoring Henson, we carry forward the spirit of a man who broke barriers, opened new paths, and proved that discovery belongs to everyone.

Click Here

To watch a brief National Geographic video explaining the life of Matthew Henson...

Wildlife Tracking, Species Reintroduction & Raptor Hospital

Renovating Our Living Laboratory and next up, our Raptor Hospital:

Corpsmembers will also engage in wildlife tracking at the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center in addition to our plan for a fully established Raptor Hospital. As PEPCO has agreed to help renovate our center again, the River of Hope Partnership will assist our corpsmembers to further assess the impacts of climate change through wildlife data collection and analysis as well as the potential for other hands-on STEAM based opportunities on the river with our in-building fish hatcheries for native species reintroduction (including Sturgeon reintroduction) and further ecological monitoring with our U.S. Geological Survey Monitoring Station; and with our Raptor Research & Conservation. To meet our birds that reside on our rooftop aviary at the Matthew Henson Center, Click Here.

Additional Programs

Additional River of Hope Partnership programs held at the Matthew Henson Earth Conservation Center include Guns To Roses as well as Wood From The Hood which both provide hands-on skills training. Guns to Roses welds guns into Osprey nest platforms (as seen around Washington, D.C. and monitored by cameras with a global audience) and Wood from the Hood teaches basic woodworking and carpentry skills through building bird and bat houses with repurposed wood that is locally sourced and would otherwise be discarded.

Henson the Heron, a sustainably made art installation, aimed to raise awareness about the amount of single-use plastic in rivers. It stands outside the Matthew Henson Center, created by ECC members collecting & repurposing Anacostia River trash.