Naming Opportunities for William E. Morgan Environmental Center
Naming of the Facility Building - $ 500,000 (FUNDED) The William E. Morgan Environmental Center - Richard and Patricia Hazel Charitable Fund
FUNDED
While the William E. Morgan Visitor Center welcomes more than 300,000 visitors to the Zoo each year, this building now needs remodeling. Currently requiring a Docent (volunteer educator) in attendance, the new Environmental Center will be built to provide secure, self-contained small animal exhibits, interactive educational exhibits, a Conservation Station to orient visitors, and other amenities for our visitors, allowing the guests to freely enter and enjoy the exhibits without the constant assistance of a Docent. The Environmental Center will serve as the primary starting point for our Docents to provide educational tours and talks.
Reptile and Amphibian Exhibits - $ 150,000
A series of reptile and amphibian exhibits will highlight some of our local snakes, salamanders and frogs, as well as, others from tropical America. A key environmental message here will be about the current extinction of amphibians throughout the world due to infections by the chytrid fungus.
Hybrid Outreach Vehicle - $100,000 (FUNDED) The Long Family Foundation
The Zoo currently offers quality community outreach programs, serving children and teens at school, parks, childcare centers, after-school programs, and retirement centers. Docents (volunteer educators) will be able to use the van to transport smaller animals. It will be wrapped with pictures of our animals, allowing for better advertising of the Zoo.
Invertebrate Exhibits - $ 50,000 (FUNDED) Jenna Doris Robinson
Invertebrates are often overlooked and misunderstood but they comprise the greatest numbers of animals on earth. From spiders to cockroaches to diving beetles, children enjoy seeing and learning about “bugs”!
Conservation Station - $ 50,000
Located outside in front of the Environmental Center, the Conservation Station will be a structure that contains four message boards. This information center will display a full color map of the Zoo to orient visitors, a panel to highlight conservation efforts at the Zoo, and panels to provide visitors with ideas on ways to “Go Home Green” and help the environment on a daily basis. These panels will be protected overhead by a thatched roof which will help give a new ambiance to the main entrance of the Zoo (the East gate).
Diamond-backed Terrapin Exhibit - $ 50,000 (FUNDED) In memory of Philip and Barbara Long
As one enters the Environmental Center, you may be “greeted” by our State reptile, the diamond-backed terrapin. This unusual turtle lives in brackish water and eats snails!
Docent Learning Areas – $30,000 (FUNDED) First Shore Federal
and $25,000 (FUNDED) Bank of America Foundation
Meet me at the “tiki hut” for informal talks on animals. You might get a chance to hear a hissing cockroach, pet a millipede or admire a tarantula! This teaching hut will be located in an outdoor area at the back of the Environmental Center. It will be a prime spot for our Docents to make presentations to our visitors. A second teaching hut will be indoors to ensure that the visitors have year-round opportunities to be educated.
Pollinators Exhibit - $ 25,000 (FUNDED) John and Donna McCabe
Our agricultural industry depends upon pollinators for its harvest. Visitors will be able to come watch a live honey bee colony in action at this demonstration hive.
Landscaping Package - $ 25,000
A re-vamping of the landscape materials to highlight plants with unusual leaves or color will help give the Tropics Trail a more exotic, tropical feel. Increased plantings will also increase the sense of discovery – what is around the next bend?
Bronze Sculptures - $25,000 and $10,000
To continue our dedication to wildlife art, bronze wildlife sculptures will be added.
Outdoor Interactive Exhibits – $10,000 each (3 available) (FUNDED)
The Nechay Family
PKS & Company, PKS Investment Advisors
Shore Bank
FUNDED
Outside along the Tropics Trail, three new interactive exhibits will help children of all ages better understand the intricacies of ecology and biodiversity. Can you outrun an alligator? Can you filter like a flamingo? These questions and others may be discussed in the new educational exhibits. By integrating species displayed along the Trail, children will gain more knowledge about the world around them while having fun!
Benches - $10,000 (3 available) FUNDED Robinson's Family of Businesses
Benches will be made out of environmentally friendly recycled material.
