National Conservation Training Center

This facility is absolutely beautiful. I attended a conference here, and was very impressed.
My room was basic, but comfortable, and was definitely true to the conservation spirit of the centre in several ways.
The best part of staying here besides the great outdoors all around, was the food. The setup for our conference was really great– being able to select from several menu options was wonderful, and it meant I didn’t have to worry about my dietary restrictions at all. I would come back here for a conference or event in a heartbeat.

The campus is beautiful. The lodging area is nice, but the bedding is mediocre. Each room has huge windows so you get plenty of vitamin D. I went in December, and the weather was great, but you need a coat. 30 degrees can be a little chilly, if you’re not used to cold weather.
The dining hall is closest to the Rachael Carlson Lodge, so if you can’t walk long distances… Hint. Hint. Be prepared to see a lot of food! Bison burgers, lamb meatloaf, Duck, chocolate cake, pasta bar. .etc! You have to control yourself or you’ll gain the NCTC five!
The dining hall has a real Hogwarts feel to it… which was awesome.
The classrooms are about ¼ mile from the lodging so, keep that in mine when you’re packing your shoes. They have free laundry facilities that come with free soap and fabric softener. Each room has a 32 inch flat screen, and shower gel and shampoo dispensers like you see at the gym.
If you have your cell phone service with any one other than Sprint, may the force be with you for finding a connection! At&t and Verizon service is only available in the classroom buildings and in the parking lots of the lodging areas.
Overall, the facility is very nice.

I stayed here four nights in Sept/​Oct 2014 for a work function (the organization where I work is not affiliated with the Fish & Wildlife Service). I was on the «meal plan», so I ate all meals in the Center’s dining facility. I’ll comment on various features of the facility.
Lodging: They have four largish lodges. Rooms are quite simple, but clean and functional. My bed was only «full size» (I don’t know if they all are), but it was decently comfortable. The bathroom was comparable to a lower-​end hotel chain, but they only provide shampoo and body wash (in a dispenser on the wall). The room included a TV with cable, but the channel selection was more limited than at most hotels (which was OK with me). My only complaint was the temperature control. Since the entire facility plays up «conservation», you will l be at the mercy of the weather for how comfortable you’ll be since guests only have limited control of the HVAC unit. Each lodge has a (free) laundry room and kitchenette.
Dining: I was quite impressed by the Center’s dining facility! The dining room itself was huge and quite stylish. Food options were generally quite good with a couple daily entrée specials, a salad bar, pizza, sandwich, and grill options. Everything I had was very good — portions were quite generous (but if you have the «meal plan» you can go back as much as you like). Downstairs from the dining room is a pub that sells a few types of beer (popcorn is free).
Classrooms: The Center contains a couple classroom buildings and an auditorium. I spent my days in the «Instructional East» building, which was nice, but unfortunately, the focus on «conservation» made the classroom much too warm. I appreciate their focus on conservation, but I believe the warm classrooms distracted from learning.
Grounds: The Center’s grounds are park-​like, with several paths through the woods and down to the Potomac River. You’ll likely need to walk a lot to get between buildings, so you’ll be at the mercy of the weather. Fortunately, the weather was nice during my stay. (They offer free-​to-​use umbrellas at the entrances of all buildings should you not be so lucky!)

This place is set up like a summer camp atmosphere.
The room is pretty normal, about the same as a hotel room. The cleaning is average. It could have been a little bit cleaner, but it’s not too big of a deal.
Free wifi in the room and it worked well. There was no cell reception throughout the grounds though.
Ordered a wake-​up call both mornings and it came promptly.
The worst thing was that the walls are thin. You can hear everything outside. Hard to sleep when people are being loud.
The grounds are huge. The hotel, cafeteria, and classrooms were spread so far from each other. Walking for such long distances got old after a while and I can’t imagine having to do those walks in the dead of winter with the snow coming down. The place looked creepy too; it was dark and forest all around. Easy to get lost.
The cafeteria food was pretty good. They had a variety of food. My favorite was the pudding cups and pie. There was a bar downstairs as well.
The classrooms were normal. They served different snacks during breaks. Favorite was gummy bears.
The rate is pretty good here for what you get.

Cool place to spend some educational time if you get the chance. Very well guarded and kinda like summer camp atmosphere. Room walls are paper thin. Got a knock on door at 7:50am for house keeping though. Kinda early???

if reading a sand county almanac and silent spring touch your soul, you must find some reason to visit here. you’ll find biologists, geologists, conservationists milling around with binoculars, rushing off to training classes, enjoying the hikes, huddling around excitedly discussing some new science– all with the potomac river majestically rolling by. oh, the architecture-​far from being dingy and uninspiring, the facilities are simple but beautifully done– almost like the big lodges in yosemite. I highly recommend– and yes, that cafeteria is the best I’ve ever been to. shepherdstown is also an adorable place to walk around with another great run along the potomac on an old canal trail. not sure if you have to have a work reason to stay, but you should call to confirm before deciding not to try. good place.

The National Conservation Training Center (NCTC) is the training and education arm of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
At the NCTC is this cool little campus store where they sell a variety of wildlife themed products: books on wildlife, shirts, hats, sweat shirts, walking staffs, etc. The walking staffs are my favorite! They have these cool carved and painted wildlife heads on them!
You can also buy tickets to eat at the upstairs cafeteria — which is also very good!