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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER

For the love of nature

Bear Center to open Ecology Hall

Keith Vandervort
Posted 1/22/15

ELY - A new ecology center, called Northwoods Ecology Hall, is set to open in early June at the North American Bear Center in Ely. The new exhibit is located in the recently-completed addition to the …

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NORTH AMERICAN BEAR CENTER

For the love of nature

Bear Center to open Ecology Hall

Posted

ELY - A new ecology center, called Northwoods Ecology Hall, is set to open in early June at the North American Bear Center in Ely. The new exhibit is located in the recently-completed addition to the NABC building just outside of the city on Highway 169.

The 40- by 80-foot exhibit room will showcase all mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles that live in the Northland, said Dr. Lynn Rogers.

“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.

“It’s going to flow from each season and it’s going to show the animals that live up here thoughout the four distinct seasons,” said Scott Edgett, senior director of operations at the NABC. One wall will feature a northern lights mural.

Several tables are lined with the dozens of taxidermy articles that will be part of the exhibit. “We will have that big bull moose, currently at our main entrance, down to a tiny little ermine,” he said. A 600-plus-gallon aquarium will feature fish species common to the North Country. Three terrariums will house regional animals, reptiles, turtles, frogs, even snakes, available for petting.

“Education is the focus of the Northwoods Ecology Hall with guides leading talks; visitors will also be 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.

A reading and activity center for children will take up one corner of the room. “Nature sounds will fill the air,” Edgett said.

“Another educational dimension of the exhibit is the bears’ relationships with other animals in their habitat,” Rogers said. “Visitors will be able to learn how bears interact with the other animals as well as how they interact with the physical environment.”

Several area artists have been busy this month planning and assembling the displays. Maureen O’Brien, of Solway, is working on painting a mural featuring a lake scene. A beaver dam and display pond will be 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, are making 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 are using branches, pine needles, leaves, and other ground matter to add realism to the displays.

As they work, Peter details a lichen-covered “granite” boulder. Erik adds depth to one of four white pine “tree trunks.” Ryan places grassy outcrops in the “dirt.”

A grand opening for the ecology hall is planned for early June. Edgett said that won’t be the end of the Bear Center’s expansion. “By the end of the year or the beginning of next year, we plan to open the Hope Learning Center, which will be a whole new educational center, featuring classrooms and teaching by naturalists, focusing on bears and all wildlife here.”

He also noted the Bear Center will be expanding their gift shop area, “and we will be putting a new attractive entrance and exterior for our building.”