SHERBURNE – After an 11th-hour meeting and despite the hopes of many, Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne will indeed close at the end of the year.

The non-profit support group Friends of Rogers met with senior state Department of Environmental Conservation staff on Tuesday to discuss the agency’s planned closure of the Rogers Center.

“At this time, DEC’s decision to lay off the Center’s staff appears final and irreversible,” said Laurie Trotta, president of Friends of Rogers.