Bison and bears, oh my.
In August, the Great Bend City Council authorized Mayor Mike Allison to sign agreements for the design of for the expansion of the grizzly bear exhibit and the reintroduction of the bison exhibit at the Brit Spaugh Zoo. Monday night, the council gave the go ahead to an architecture firm and a consulting firm to prepare proposals for the expansion of the facilities.
Chris Kliewer of Wichita-based GLMV Architecture and Josh Golka of Wichita-based Professional Engineering Consultants were present to reveal their concept which came with a price tag of about $10,000. This was not for the building of the exhibit, just the plans for it.
“We wanted to take a step back and see what other possibilities there are,” Kliewer said. The looked at not only the bison and bear areas, but also the entire north end of the zoo that features animals from North America.
“We wanted better public interaction,” he said. “We wanted something affordable but still cutting edge.”
This is a delicate balance, he said. The challenge was to keep the facility free while enhancing the viewers experience, enriching the environment for the animals, and maintaining the safety of people and animals alike.
Everything in the proposal is in keeping with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Kliewer said. The goal is to someday have the zoo be accredited by the AZA.
Golka of the city’s on-call engineering firm PEC recommended GLMV. He has worked with them on other projects and brought them to the city’s attention.
GLMV has worked with zoos all over Kansas and around the globe, Golka said. A display they designed just opened at the Emporia Zoo.
This may cost more than doing the work with city personnel, but City Administrator Howard Partington said it is part of a change in direction. They want to move to more professional exhibits and want to get professionals involved.
The city was awarded two gifts totalling $230,000 from the Dorothy M. Morrison Foundation for zoo improvements. The concepts created by GLMV may take more than that to bring to fruition, and Parting ton said the city may apply to the foundation for help with the design fees.
When the Morrison Foundation funds were accepted by the council in March, it was noted the first gift, for $130,000, will be used to upgrade the grizzly bear exhibit. It will add 260 feet of fence (increasing the size by about three and a half times), a shelter house, a pond and a stream with running water.
The bears will also get shade structures, a climbing wall and a zip line.
In this case the zip line isn’t a ride — it’s a cable on a pulley that anything can be attached to so it can be batted or played with, making the item hard to catch. An example of one can be found now at the zoo’s lion exhibit; it holds a large ball.
The second gift of $100,000 will be used to reintroduce bison to the zoo. The first step will be to restore the exhibit space with new fencing. The gift will also pay for a shelter/hay shed, holding chute and stock tank.
There would also be glass viewing areas. Perhaps, visitors will be able feed fish to the bears and food to the bison.
Sidewalks, landscaping and signs will be included in both exhibits. Kliewer said they also examined bringing back wolves, adding prairie dogs and other additions.
“We want to hark back to what the zoo used to be,” Kliewer said. Their plan calls for viewing areas outside of the perimeter fence.
Partington said one such area will be at the south end of the grizzly exhibit, a triangle-shaped spot where folks can relax and watch the bears. He thinks that will be one of the most popular spots in town.
Partington said they have some bison located and hope to move on that facility as soon as possible. As for the bears, that work has to be done in the winter, so that may not happen until next year.
