WEST YELLOWSTONE — Yellowstone is a place that’s known for its wildlife, and it’s highlighted at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone—where visitors will soon have the opportunity to check out a brand-new exhibit.
"A lot of visitors come here as part of their visit to the park, and what we want to do is showcase animals, especially predators like bears and wolves, that are native to this ecosystem, to the landscape, and important to the landscape," says Tut Fuentevilla.
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Fuentevilla is the center’s education coordinator, and for the last two years he’s been involved with the planning and construction of the new Yellowstone Ecosystem Wildlife and Nature exhibits at their museum.
"We felt it was time to have a more modern exhibit that discussed the importance of bears and wolves, and other predators more comprehensively. And talked about how the different animals that make up Yellowstone all fit together and all shape the landscape," he says.
The Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center is a not-for-profit wildlife park that opened in 1993 to create a better understanding of grizzly bears.
But after wolves were reintroduced to the Yellowstone ecosystem in the 90s and welcomed into the center shortly after, the 21-year-old exhibit needed updating.
"It’s just a more modern exhibit that reflects 30 years of more modern understanding of the ecology and biology of animals on the landscape," says Fuentevilla.
The new exhibit will be fully interactive, even highlighting the topic of wildlife conflict management as it remains a forefront issue in Montana.
"As people move to Montana, as communities grow, we still want Montana to be Montana. and Montana landscapes are shaped by wildlife," says Fuentevilla, "So as long as people kind of have that knowledge of what those animals are, what they need, what their behaviors are, I think we’ll continue to make better decisions about how we live with them going forward."
The center hopes to have the newYellowstone Ecosystem exhibitopen and ready for the public by this Saturday, May 3.
