BRIGHAM CITY — A commonly held belief is that the marshes around the Great Salt Lake are of little value, hardly more than a mosquito breeding ground and a source of foul smells.
OK, there are mosquitoes and the aroma isn't always pleasing, "but the wetlands around the lake are so much more. People need to understand and appreciate just how important this area is," explained Al Trout, manager of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.
He would like nothing more than to dispel the myth. He knows it won't be easy. Misconceptions repeated tend to become fact over time.
But now, he said with a smile and a knowing nod of the head, he has the very tool he needs to begin the process — the Bear River Wildlife Education Center.
It is the product of more than 10 years of research, work and creative planning by Trout and his staff, the last two years being dedicated to the actual building and finished product.
The official grand opening of the center will take place April 21 and 22. The redirecting of mistaken beliefs has already begun.
Even without the formal opening, people have heard about and are visiting the wildlife education facility. Even schools around the state have started to line up for classes.
"We planned to start working with the (Box Elder School) district first and then expand to other districts," said Kathi Stopher, environmental education specialist at the refuge, "but we've already had requests all the way from preschools to high schools and everything in between to visit the center."
Which, of course, is what the center is all about — learning. To educate the public, one visitor at a time.
Construction on the 29,000-square-foot center began in June 2004. The planning, said Trout, goes back more than a decade.
The building is unique in both purpose and design. For starters, the architect gave the structure a birdlike appearance. The roof has a slight slope similar to that of a bird's wing. Because it sits on saturated soils, the building is designed to float. The base is made of eight-foot deep hollow concrete shells that will "float the building like a boat " in high-water years. This raised platform also gives visitors an elevated view of the marshes around the center.
At the back of the building is a U-shaped observation deck with an overhanging parabola, which enhances the sounds of the marshes.
The building itself holds administrative offices, a small maintenance area, classrooms, a teaching lab, one large auditorium that seats 196 and a smaller seating area for visitors to view a video on wetlands education. There is also a health lab, a bookstore and, at the very heart of the center, an exhibit hall with interactive displays, educational presentations and a wetlands diorama.
Trout refers to the center as being almost entirely "home grown."
"The staff worked on the design functions of the building and what we wanted the visitor's experience to be. The staff came up with the themes and the topics of what it was we wanted people to learn when they visited," he explained.
"We decided on every single subject and what message to convey, then came up with the words. All said and done, our staff did the vast majority of work. It was their ideas and creativity that made this center."
The objective, said Betsy Beneke, outdoor recreation planner at the refuge, was to try and connect with visitors at every level.
"We knew we'd get some visitors who would be totally unfamiliar with birds and wildlife and wetlands. And we knew we'd get visitors who were very familiar with the area. We wanted to connect with people from all backgrounds to explain what is so special about this area. We want them to understand more about birds, about what is so unique about a bird's life, why they come (to the Great Salt Lake) and why we should care," she said.
Part of the educational process will revolve around linking the Bear River with the Great Salt Lake and to explain how the joining of the two created a very productive habitat, which is why the area is so important to birds.
"When people leave here they will know why this area is so important to birds, why birds come here, how birds feed and reproduce, and why wetlands are a very valuable asset to the American public and how they can get involved in the protection and development of wildlife and wetlands," said Trout.
The Great Salt Lake is primarily a refueling stop for migrating birds. Beneke called it a "giant grocery store" for wildlife. Millions of birds on their north-south migration flights stop at this desert oasis to replenish their body reserves so they can continue their rigorous journey.
As for visitors, the first stop once inside the building, past the volunteer-manned information desk, is the exhibit hall. The upper level is dedicated to birds. Exhibits explain flight adaptations, the structure of feathers, feeding habits, egg development, beak design, feet patterns and bone structure. There are also stations along a walkway that are activated to deliver the sounds of various bird species.
The lower level is dedicated to wetlands education and includes a display on the food chain and a diorama of a wetland scene.
The classrooms will take visitors beyond the casual views of birds and wetlands, said Stopher, "and give actual hands-on experiences." This will include formal visits to the center by students. There will also be evening lectures designed for adults and families.
"Students often come to think of subjects like biology as boring," said Trout, "because often in biology classes the kids are given a chart and simply told to memorize names and numbers. We want them to come here and learn that biology can be a turn-on. We want to interface and supercharge the educational system so we can have more children understand natural resources and the wild critters that live here. And, we want to teach them that these critters are worth something to society, worth something to them personally and that they can add something to their quality of life."
The concepts used in the outdoor classrooms will be an extension of those presented in the exhibit hall.
One objective, said Stopher, is to get every fourth-grade student within the state to visit the center at some point.
"The goal is going to be to reconnect kids with their natural environment, to get them excited about being out on the marshes," she said.
"We will have several stations set up outdoors to introduce the values and functions of wetlands. We'll teach them that wetlands serve as a filtration system to help improve our water quality. We'll also dip water and mud samples so they can see the diversity of the organisms that fuel the food chain from the bottom up. We'll look at birds up close, at their wings and bills and foot structure.
"The importance of wetlands will be another subject taught at the center. Utah still has vast stretches of wetlands, even though somewhat fragmented. It is important for children and adults to realize their importance."
Stopher pointed out that other states are not as fortunate. Indiana, for example, has lost 90 percent of its wetlands and Southern California 99.9 percent.
The hope is that by educating children about the importance of wetlands and birds now that this will pay dividends in the future. And, of course, to dispel the myth that Utah's wetlands are of little value, when in fact they are priceless.
E-mail: grass@desnews.com