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DISCOVERY
News from The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
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10 October 2012
Hello and welcome!
Thanks for dropping in to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, a not-for-profit, AZA-accredited wildlife park and educational facility, with a diverse crew of staff and volunteers. We're glad you're here with us.
There's a lot going on in this issue. We hope you enjoy the photos and the news. Get to know our amazing cast of characters, and share us with your friends. We hope to see you soon, right here in West Yellowstone, relaxing and watching the animals, or participating in one of our interactive programs and displays, but until then we wish you all the best.
We hope we can bring a little discovery and excitement your way. Enjoy!
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Around The Center
What's Happening at the GWDC
 Another busy couple of weeks passed quickly here at the GWDC. We are enjoying the last golden days of fall here, with morning icicles sparkling on the habitats a more and more common sight. The animals seem unphased by colder weather and shorter days, and visitors have been in good spirits and here in good numbers. We'll fill you in on all our happenings in the rest of the newsletter. Remember to pass this issue on to friends and family; we'll send another in two weeks or so. Also, for more frequent updates and great photos, keep up with us on Facebook. Even if you're not quite sure how you feel about the whole social media idea, who doesn't want to see the latest pumpkin picture or read the latest news of Acadia instead of staring at what your cousin had for dinner? Add us to your feed and see what pops up! We are in the final push to finish the amphitheater seating before winter calls the shots. All we lack for this season is the benched seating. We will have pathways and area fencing to fine-tune when spring comes, readying us for summer programs and events in our brand new amphitheater, but the steps, footing, and concrete foundation for the benches are complete. We're all looking forward to the new space and the potential for learning, meeting, and celebrating it holds. We've had several schools and classes visiting lately, and will host our own West Yellowstone School Biology II students next week to talk about Careers in Science. We have as much fun as the students who come from all over the region, and from all sorts of educational settings. From home-schooled to University students, and every high school, elementary classroom and independent study group in between, we welcome learners of all ages. Thank you for letting us be a part of your studies. Remember if you have any questions, or just want to know more about any aspect of the Center, you can always give us a call at 406.646.7001, reply to this newsletter, or email info@grizzlydiscoveryctr.com. We will try to keep you informed and up to date in as many ways as we can. Your involvement and interest in what we do keeps us doing it! Thanks again for tuning in. |
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Bears, Wolves, and Birds
(Oh My!)
Animal Updates
 Since our last email newsletter, our High Country wolf pack has received a new addition to their habitat. Fittingly for their name, they are able to climb atop a mound of boulders and earth. This rocky mound provides visual and physical stimulation to the wolves, and offers additional geography and hiding places for enrichment.
Three birds-of-prey attended the Bozeman Raptor Fest last weekend with adult chaperones. Emily and Trent from our Education team attended this two-day event with Acadia the Saw-whet Owl, Nahani the Rough-legged Hawk, and Chip the American Kestrel. All representatives of the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center were on their best behavior, and the audiences, as you will see below, was impressive and impressed! We expect the raptors who are on exhibit to be in the Aviary through the end of the month.
And what are the bears up to, you ask? Up to their armpits in pumpkins. We picked up and delivered 1500 pounds of pumpkins this week, and the bears are finding pumpkins throughout the habitat! The wolves will be partaking of pumpkins in the coming days, but so far the bears have batted, swatted, pummeled, licked, bitten, and gobbled pumpkins! If you're in the area, stop by and see the pumpkin extravaganza for yourself.
Every issue of our email newsletter will have updates on our animals, and we will still be sending quarterly newsletters through the mail. We know it's not the people who draw you to the GWDC, as neat as we are, so we'll keep you posted on the reason we're all here: the bears, wolves, and birds.
Read about our wolves...
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Education
Knowledge Is a Powerful Tool
 See that tiny speck of orange way up front between the plate glass windows? Miniaturized by the vast crowd of spectators? That's Emily! The dot on her hand, way up there in front of all these people, is Acadia. Together they visited with hundreds of people last Saturday and Sunday at Bozeman's Bridger Bowl, along with Trent, Nahani, and Chip at the 2012 Raptor Fest. The event was a tremendous success, the largest outreach program by far for the GWDC every year, and this year's attendance was higher than ever. Trent and Emily presented two programs on each of the two days in addition to speaking with individuals from around the region. Birds and naturalists represented us well, and we look forward to welcoming guests this year and next who learned about the Center through their presence at the Raptor Fest. The Education team has begun working with the West Yellowstone High School to develop an opportunity for students to volunteer and intern here at the GWDC. We're not sure what we're going to call this partnership, but we're certain it's going to be a great thing. Is it a co-op? Is it community service? It's definitely going to provide hands-on learning and the chance for Interpretive Guide certification to juniors and seniors who participate this winter, and it's definitely going to be fun. We spend time every week with younger students in the After-school enrichment program, and we're looking forward to building relationships and educational programs for older students as well. Speaking of the After-School kids, we need about 20 backpacks to take these students on nature walks throughout the school year. If you have a used backpack you'd like to donate, something not too big and not too small, please let us know. If you're interested in visiting the GWDC with your classroom, or if you'd like to sponsor a Teaching Trunk or outreach program, let us know. One of the Center's naturalists can visit your school for special assemblies, programs or activities. As you know, our birds-of-prey can travel for such programs as can our large collection of wolf and bear artifacts. We will customize the program or the Teaching Trunk for your group and areas of special interest. |
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Developments
New and Exciting Opportunities to Support the GWDC
 | | Photo by Scotty Heppel |
Plans for our new Banks of the Madison riparian habitat are drawn, excitement is growing, and pictures of river otters are taking on a whole new meaning around here. If you haven't heard, our next big project will be a complex system of ponds, streams, and land forms which will bring visitors into a habitat where River Otters, American Dippers, indigenous amphibians and reptiles, and native Cutthroat Trout are at home in a natural setting. The exhibit as a whole will feature open expanses, wildlife habitats, classrooms and studio spaces, and meeting and viewing areas. This upcoming project will be built as a "Green Design" with water reclamation and re-use, passive solar gain, and natural spectrum lighting. We'll have a lot more to say about this next phase of growth next spring, but we're so excited about it we couldn't keep it to ourselves.
In the more immediate future, we're planning to break ground on the new bear kitchen soon. We haven't put the exact date on the calendar, but the plan is to build a free-standing food preparation kitchen for the bears and an adjoining maintenance and vehicle repair shop for the Center. We are hoping to create workspace for Center use and learning space for students and the community. We will definitely keep you posted.
Have you heard about GoodSearch? Every time you shop online for tires, diapers, cute shoes, power tools, or anything else, you could be donating money to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center! Here's how it works: Register yourself and your favorite not-for-profit (that's us, right?) at www.goodsearch.com, and then search away! You can search the web, shop online, and go out to eat, and every time you do, GoodSearch donates money to your favorite cause. Search the internet with Yahoo- and Bing-powered search engines, and we get a penny per search! Shop with GoodSearch and you get coupons while a percentage of every purchase benefits us. Sign up for their GoodDining program and they'll donate a percentage of your restaurant bill when you eat at any one of thousands of participating restaurants. It's really easy, it's free, and it turns simple, everyday actions into a way to make the world a better place. See for yourself. The response to our first annual Autumn Discovery Photography Contest and Exhibition has been great so far! Amateur and professional photographers may submit up to six works in digital format for consideration. The photographs must be taken here at the GWDC of the bears, wolves, and raptors, between September 1st and November 1st, 2012. Deadline for submission is November 2nd, so there is still time to visit, snap some great shots, and send them in! The works must be available for Center use with photo credit. Six winners will be announced and awarded in the categories of: Professional Bear, Professional Wolf, and Professional Raptor photograph, and Amateur Bear, Amateur Wolf, and Amateur Raptor photograph. The exhibit will be ongoing in both print and digital format. For more information, email jenniferh@grizzlydiscoveryctr.com.
Thanks again for all you do. We look forward to hearing from you soon!
Keep reading about other ways to support the GWDC...
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Eye Candy
Photographs and Artwork from the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center
 | | Photo by Bill Powers |
We are honored to have many artists and photographers visit and support the GWDC. Their vision and talents inspire and enliven our work here, so we thought it would be nice to feature some of their work in every issue of our newsletter. "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." Pablo Picasso
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We hope you enjoyed this issue, learned a little something, and felt like you were here with us for just a few minutes. It's a pretty special place to be. We hope you have a great couple of weeks, and make plans to come see us soon. Thank you!
Sincerely,
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The GWDC Staff
Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center |
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Gift Shop
Happenings
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Hello from the staff in the gift shop! We just finished our end of the fiscal year inventory. Our inventory manager Oly Watt made sure everything and everybody was organized and ready. We finished in record time and the numbers were excellent. Thank you to our Accounting and HR staff for helping us count.
We have received quite a few orders via email this fall from around the world. We do ship virtually anywhere and are happy to do so. There is still time to buy tickets for the Ken Takata and Cathy Sheeter artwork raffles. The drawing will be held November 1st. The website will soon be filled with new gift selections. Look for our $5.00 holiday gift stocking raffle next month and in the December Howls & Growls newsletter. Last year it was a big hit, and like all gift shop sales, the proceeds go directly to the Center.
The gift shop will soon be getting a new sign on the building. During the months of November through April, admissions and entrance move to the gift shop building. A newly lit sign will help our guests locate the entrance more easily, and will be an attractive enticement to all who visit our small hamlet of West Yellowstone. Thank you for shopping at the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center!
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15% of a single item (call gift shop for exclusions) through October 20, 2012!
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