NEW AT ZOO: Watching fish in the aquariums at the Terry Redlin Environmental Center, are from left, Bryce Hult, and Brady and Cassidy Endres. The Watertown Community Foundation awarded the Lake Area Zoological Society a $7,000 grant for the center which was completed this spring. The 6,300 square foot addition to the Bramble Park Zoo offers visitors even more enjoyment and learning opportunities with 10 aquariums, several interactive exhibits, two indoor classrooms and an outdoor classroom. The center also houses office and lab for the Upper Big Sioux River Watershed Project and the Northern Prairie Land and Trust office.WCF has granted $225,000 to the Lake Area Zoological Society over the past 30 years. New exhibits, free days, programs, prairie grasses and new construction have all been supported by those grants. Most recently, the Foundation supported the newly constructed Terry Redlin Environmental Center at the zoo.
The zoo, in turn, brings a lot of good to Watertown. Miller said statistics show that the zoo has a $750,000 impact on the City of Watertown annually. Thirty-five to 40 percent of the people who come to the zoo come from more than 50 miles away, he said. Then, it’s time to shop, dine or gas up before heading home.
