Manatee Center, Fort Pierce

The Manatee Center, formally the Manatee Observation and Education Center, is a nature-based museum on Moore's Creek in downtown Fort Pierce that Fort Pierce Utilities Authority (FPUA) manages and operates for the City of Fort Pierce.

FPUA's FY 2026 budget lists the Manatee Center beside the electric, water, wastewater, natural gas and FPUAnet systems as services managed and operated for the City of Fort Pierce by FPUA, which was established under Article XII of the City of Fort Pierce Charter (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). FPUA's 2024 annual financial report adds that FPUA manages and operates the Manatee Center as a community enrichment program (FPUA FY 2024 ACFR). An FPUA bill insert from April 2023 says the center was adopted by FPUA in 1996 (FPUA April 2023 bill insert).

The budget describes the arrangement behind the Fort Pierce center in two ways. Its utility systems section says the facility was established through a joint agreement between the City of Fort Pierce and FPUA, while the department page says the Manatee Center exists as a joint agreement between the City of Fort Pierce, FPUA and the Treasure Coast Manatee Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). Both statements appear in the same document.

The center sits where the mouth of Moore's Creek meets the Indian River Lagoon, east of Indian River Drive, according to the budget, and its own site gives the address as 480 N. Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34950 (Manatee Center site). The City of Fort Pierce lists the Manatee Center within walking distance of the River Walk Center, along with the A.E. Backus Gallery and Museum and the Seven Gables Visitor Information Center (Fort Pierce River Walk Center page).

The Fort Pierce Manatee Center lists regular hours of Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with admission of $3.00 per person and free entry for children 5 and under with an adult.

The center's site says it is closed Sunday, Monday and major holidays, that accessible parking and an accessible entrance are at the main entrance, and that groups should call ahead to the Education Coordinator at (772) 429-6266, option 3 (Manatee Center site, visit details). The main line for the center and gift shop is the same (772) 429-6266.

For the current schedule, the center refers visitors to its Facebook page (Manatee Center site). FPUA's budget says the department cut visitor disruption days from 73 to 2 by streamlining systems and expanding training (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget).

Manatees can turn up at the Fort Pierce Manatee Center in any month, because the animals are wild and free roaming; the center says Florida manatees frequent it year-round but that there is no telling when they will swim by.

FPUA's budget describes the Moore's Creek setting as a clean and safe place for observing free roaming manatees and other Indian River Lagoon wildlife (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The center's own answer on sightings is that there is no telling when manatees will swim by, which it calls all the more reason to visit frequently (Manatee Center site, manatee sightings).

Statewide, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) says the Florida manatee population has grown to a minimum of 8,350 animals (FWC manatee program page). FWC asks anyone who sees a distressed or dead manatee to report it at 888-404-FWCC (888-404-3922), or #FWC or *FWC from a cell phone, the same number the Manatee Center prints at the foot of its pages (Manatee Center site).

The Fort Pierce center's Exhibit Hall is a museum of aquatic tanks and lagoon information, with daily fish feedings, a monthly lecture series, a preschool story time and an observation deck.

FPUA's budget names the current programs as a monthly lecture series, a preschool Storytime, daily fish feedings and seasonal camps, run with a volunteer outreach group of over 50 volunteers (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The department page of the same budget says the center replaced in-house camps with field trips hosted by community partners and shows 90+ volunteers on its staffing chart, so the two pages of the budget differ on camps and on the volunteer count. The center has five full time positions in the budget: a manager, a marketing and retail post, a program coordinator, a center support coordinator and an education coordinator.

The center's site lists three recurring series: ManaTales story time for preschoolers, with admission free for that pre-K event, the Lunch and Learn lecture series with guest speakers, and Creekside Chats on the Manatee Center Observation Deck with partner organizations (Manatee Center site, programs). Each runs once a month; the site carries the current dates.

Outside its own walls, FPUA says it runs environmental awareness through NatureFest (FPUA April 2023 bill insert), and the budget credits the Manatee Center with nine new environmental exhibitors at Nature Fest 2025 and a 25% increase in students served (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget).

FPUA says the Manatee Center welcomed 49,792 people through its museum doors and educational programs in fiscal year 2024, and its operating budget for FY 2026 is $816,922.

The FPUA figures for the Manatee Center measure different things. The budget defines total individuals reached as exhibit hall visitors plus education program participants and visitors engaged at offsite partner events, and sets a goal of 60,000 for each year from FY 2023 through FY 2026 (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The narrative and the goals table also give different FY 2024 volunteer hours, shown separately above.

FPUA reports the costs as one of its departments, with the FPUA contribution, admissions, donations, fundraising and gift shop sales all listed as Manatee Center revenue lines in the budget's account definitions (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The budget's revenue summary puts Manatee Center revenues at $816,982 for FY 2026.

FPUA says the Fort Pierce Manatee Center has rebranded, launched a new website and plans to expand its Exhibit Hall and educational programs over the next two years.

The FY 2026 budget overview says the planned expansion of the Exhibit Hall and the programs offered should draw attention from tourism in the Fort Pierce area, and that the center has applied for and is receiving grants for education about local ecosystems, native manatees and the Indian River Lagoon (FPUA FY 2026 Annual Budget). The systems description adds that staff are building a Visitor Experience Plan to guide future interpretation, exhibits and programming, with aims of stronger ties to the Fort Pierce community, better exhibit quality and more programs for adult audiences.

The Fort Pierce places guide lists the Manatee Center beside the City Marina, the River Walk Center and the Sunrise Theatre, and the Fort Pierce Utilities Authority guide covers FPUA's utility services.

Last verified: October 22, 2026, with hours, admission and FPUA figures compared against the Manatee Center site, FPUA's FY 2026 budget, FY 2024 ACFR and April 2023 bill insert, the city's River Walk Center page and the FWC manatee program page for this Manatee Center guide.