Construction on the center began in 2002, although the idea for such a center at Presque Isle was some 50 years old. The Presque Isle State Park headquarters began operating from TREC in 2005, and it is also home to offices for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's Great Lakes and Coastal Zone Management programs, the DCNR Recreation and Conservation program, as well as Presque Isle Audubon, Lake-Erie Allegheny Earth Force, Pennsylvania Sea Grant, Presque Isle Partnership, and the Purple Martin Conservation Association. The Regional Science Consortium, "a collaborative, non-profit organization that focuses on and coordinates educational and research projects for Lake Erie and the upper Ohio River Basin", was organized in 2002 and is based at TREC. Its 32 member organizations include schools, school districts, colleges, universities, museums, state agencies, conservation groups, and private corporations from Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario.