BOISE, Idaho — The Global Raptor Education Center will open on Earth Day, and its new expansion doubles the footprint at the World Center for Birds of Prey, just south of Boise.
The new expansion includes new exhibits, a welcome center, the Open Sky Theater, the Idaho Stem Action Center, the Idaho Power Flight Lab, parking, restrooms and benches.
"I'm looking forward to Saturday, I want to invite everybody to the new opening for the World Center of Birds of Prey," said director Tate Mason. "We got a new entryway, new exhibits and new programming that the whole family will enjoy."
The ribbon cutting will happen at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday as the Peregrine Fund celebrates 50 years of conservation.
After walking through the new welcome center, people will discover the Jan S. Alsever Peregrine Falcon exhibit, which tells the story of saving the Peregrine Falcon, and that they were removed from the endangered species list in 1999.
"That is a tribute to the greatest conservation success story of all time, the recovery of the peregrine falcon," said Mason as the efforts to save the falcon started in the 1970s.
The Idaho Power Lab tells the story of the partnership between Morley Nelson and Idaho Power to reduce electrocutions on power poles here in Idaho in the 70s.
The other new additions, like the Stem Action Center and the Open Sky Theater, provide learning places for children, as more than 500,000 students have visited the World Center for Birds of Prey on field trips.
"These field trips can be memorable for a lifetime," said Mason. "I can’t say how many times people come up that are my age or older and they tell me they remember their fourth-grade trip and the thing that they remember is that it was fun."
The Peregrine Fund concentrates on its mission to educate in an interactive way to get people interested in birds. It's an important step in the conservation process and the work they do all over the world.
"The Peregrine Falcon was really our first project, but shortly thereafter, we got involved with the Mauritius Kestrel, which was down to only four individual birds," said Mason. "That bird was taken off the endangered species list in the 1990s. We are active in at least 27 countries and we continue working to save birds of prey."
The World Center for Birds of Prey is open from 10-5 Tuesday through Sunday, and features several programs with live birds during the day.
