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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Ecology lesson

New educational center opens Saturday at Bear Center in Ely

Keith Vandervort
Posted 7/17/15

ELY - The North American Bear Center opens the doors to its new Northwoods Ecology Hall this Saturday. A celebration of the $1.5 million expansion will include an official ribbon cutting ceremony at …

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Ecology lesson

New educational center opens Saturday at Bear Center in Ely

Posted

ELY - The North American Bear Center opens the doors to its new Northwoods Ecology Hall this Saturday. A celebration of the $1.5 million expansion will include an official ribbon cutting ceremony at 2 p.m.

Built as a global learning center, the new 8,000 square foot addition, which nearly doubles the size of the education, exhibit and research facility, showcases the habitat and history of the Northwoods. Moose, caribou, white-tail deer, and timber wolf mounts are on display, as well as a 10-foot aquarium and several terrariums featuring amphibians. Interactive touch screens describe how the species interact with each other, including black bears.

Nature sounds lend ambiance from state-of-the-art audio. “Awesome, is the word we hear most,” said Bear Center President Dr. Lynn Rogers, of those who have toured the new facility. “We hear excitement in their voices and see their wide-eyed enthusiasm. It’s no wonder because we’ve had experts in Ely from across the country to make this ecology center a world class place.”

A big bull moose greets visitors at the entrance of the Ecology Hall.

“Our goal for this new exhibit is to help foster an understanding and appreciation of nature and the value of the different habitats,” he said.

On the right-hand side is an exhibit full of animals and land forms of northern Minnesota “It flows from each season and it shows the animals that live up here throughout the four distinct seasons,” said Scott Edgett, senior director of operations at the NABC.

A 600-plus-gallon aquarium features fish species common to the North Country. Three terrariums house regional animals, reptiles, turtles, frogs, even snakes, available for petting.

“Education is the focus of the Northwoods Ecology Hall with guides leading talks, and visitors are also guided with several 27-inch interactive video touch-screen displays with all the information you would ever want to know about all the animals,” he said.

Several area artists contributed to planning and assembling the displays. Maureen O’Brien, of Solway, painted the backdrop mural. A beaver dam and display pond are located in the front of the mural, to the left and right are large rock and moraine geologic features.

Peter Johnson and Ryan Kiesler, owners of Elite Wildlife Studio in Ely, along with Peter’s brother, Erik, made many of the land forms, rocks, and trees mostly from liquid foam, plaster, burlap, chicken wire, paint, and their acute vision of the natural habitat. They used branches, pine needles, leaves, and other ground matter to add realism to the displays.

The ecology hall also houses the Hope Learning Center, a classroom with broadcast technology. “This is a whole new educational center, featuring classrooms and teaching by naturalists, focusing on bears and all wildlife here,” Edgett said.

The center is named for Hope, the cub Lily gave birth to in January 2010, sparking an Internet sensation when people around the world watched the birth on a live web cam.

“The worldwide attention we’re seeing is fantastic,” said Ely Mayor Chuck Novak. “People are excited about the bear center expansion. It’s a big boost to our economy having visitors here from all over the world.”

The grand opening of the ecology hall coincides with the annual Lilypad Picnic Weekend.

The NABC is located at 1926 State Highway 169, a mile west of Ely. For admission fee information, and hours of operation, go to www.bear.org.