Nature Tourism: Great Bend’s Rapidly Expanding Claim to Fame

Great Bend and many other Central and Western Kansas communities are well-known for their strengths in oil, agriculture, and industry. However, there is another huge market that is growing exponentially in the Great Bend area. With the anticipated openings of the Wetlands Education Center near Cheyenne Bottoms and the Raptor Rehabilitation Center at the Great Bend Zoo, nature tourism will become a more and more important aspect of our local economy.

Cris Collier, Executive Director for the Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau, noted that the two new facilities will significantly increase visitor traffic in Great Bend. “Great Bend already serves as a hub for bird watchers, hunters, and nature enthusiasts,” Collier says. “With these two new facilities opening up, we will be receiving even more attention from the birding community.”

Educational Experience: Located about 9 miles northeast of Great Bend is the 11,500 square foot construction site for the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, a branch of the Sternberg Museum and Fort Hays State University. “The new education center will be a popular stop for bird watchers, hunters, and visitors of all types,” Convention & Visitors Bureau director Cris Collier says. “In addition, it will also provide a unique location for hands-on learning opportunities for community residents and graduate students doing their internships.”

The Wetlands Education Center, a branch of Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum, is scheduled to celebrate its grand opening at the end of this month. Located about 11 miles northeast of Great Bend on Kansas Hwy 156, the Wetlands Education Center is seated so that its magnificent floor-to-ceiling windows look out over a beautiful horizon in Cheyenne Bottoms.

“This facility has been in the works for quite some time,” Collier says. “In the mid 90s, Kansas Auto Bohn paid for a draft to be drawn up in hopes that this would spur some activity from the Department of Wildlife & Parks.” Collier added that it wasn’t until 2003 that a contract was put in place to assess the area for the possibility of nature-based tourism. When Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks Secretary Hayden got the money to build the facility by partnering with FHSU, things really started getting underway.

All-purpose Auditorium: In addition to the educational exhibits, the gift shop, the large classroom, the undergraduate study area and laboratory, and the observation platform, the Wetlands Education Center will also have an auditorium that will seat up to 70 people. “This auditorium features floor-to-ceiling windows for group observations, an LCD projector for presentations or lectures, and dozens of theatre-style seats,” interim director Terry Manell says. “In addition, groups or businesses will be able to utilize this unique meeting space when it is not being used for presentations.”

“Once the finances for building the facility were lined out, things started moving pretty quickly,” Collier says. “Things couldn’t be working out more perfectly.”

The Wetlands Education Center has a lot to offer. With an expansive exhibit area, an auditorium/lecture room, an observation platform, and a classroom area, the nearly 12,000 square foot building will be a popular destination for people of all interests.

In conjunction with the 2009 Wings & Wetlands Weekend, the Wetlands Interpretive Center will celebrate its grand opening on Friday, April 24th at 3 p.m. The education center’s interim director Terry Manell says, “The public is welcome and encouraged to attend the grand opening reception. We’d love to see all the support from the community that we can.”

The other of the two most notable tourist attractions opening this month is the Raptor Rehabilitation Center at the Great Bend Zoo. Scheduled to open the same week as the Wetlands Education Center, the new top-of-the-line raptor center will feature educational exhibits, ongoing snake and bird shows, and a gift shop for guests to the Great Bend Zoo. Once the facility is open, the new Raptor Center will serve as the main entrance to the zoo. “We currently bring in about 60,000 people to our zoo every year,” zoo director Mike Cargill says. “It is our goal that the Raptor Center will help significantly increase our visitor traffic.”

Caring Construction: The Raptor Rehabilitation Center inside the Great Bend Zoo will be open to the public at the end of this month. “This facility will be one of a small handful of facilities like it across the nation,” zoo director Mike Cargill says. “The goal of our facility is mainly to help injured wildlife prior to being released into the wild, but we also want to educate our visitors about how to protect the wildlife and our environment.” With the displays going in at the first of April and the grand opening scheduled a few short weeks thereafter, things are staying busy at the Raptor Rehab Center. “Things will always be busy at the Raptor center,” Cargill says. “We have x-ray, surgery, triage, and recovery rooms, as well as a laboratory for graduate students and veterinarians to monitor the birds in our facility.” Cargill noted that after the birds leave the Raptor Center, they are then sent to the flight pens at the Larned Correctional Facility, where the inmates there monitor the birds’ activities to ensure they can function on their own in the wild.

In addition to visitor exhibits, the new raptor center will also feature a national-grade raptor rehabilitation center for birds of all species. Here, weak or injured birds can get the medical attention they need to survive in the wild. “People who come across an injured bird in the wild often try to take care of it themselves or adopt it as a pet,” Cargill says. “However, this can be detrimental to the health of the animal, as they can become dependent on humans to feed and care for them if they are not handled properly.”

The new raptor center is one of only a small handful of facilities like it across the nation. “Most of the time you see these types of facilities at major universities,” Cargill says. “Great Bend is very fortunate to have a raptor rehab center right here in our zoo.”

Picture Perfect: Zoo director Mike Cargill looks over the pictures that portray what the inside of the new Raptor Rehab center will eventually look like. With educational displays, bird and snake shows three times a day, and a zoo gift shop, the Raptor Rehab Center promises to be a hub for activity at the Great Bend Zoo. “Last year, we had over 60,000 people come through our zoo,” Cargill says. “Our goal is to increase that number to 100,000 in 2009.”

With summer months quickly approaching, it is predicted that these two new facilities will draw lots of families on vacation. Convention & Visitors Bureau director Cris Collier says, “These two facilities are housed in the prime location for nature tourism. With our community being surrounded by the Quivira Wildlife Refuge, Cheyenne Bottoms, and the Wetlands Scenic Byway all right here, we are definitely set up for success.”

 

Miniature Medicine: A small falcon sits in one of the cages at the new Raptor Rehabilitation Center at the Great Bend Zoo while his broken wing is healing. “Birds’ bones heal in a matter of days,” Zoo director Mike Cargill says. “So it’s important that they are brought to us right away before their bones start mending themselves in the wrong position.”