Great series of photos. Plenty of space and the bear walkway is a nice touch. Must be one of the best bear exhibits in America and with a backdrop most zoos could only wish for.
Thank you for the comment. The bear exhibit is easily in my opinion the best in the United States. The AWCC just acquired a wolf and expressed their intention to develope a pack...which is only going to raise their profile. The center has improved quite a lot in the 10 years I've been visiting and seems to have big plans. I have not visited Northwest Trek, but have heard great things...but for my money, until I do visit NW Trek, AWCC remains our best Wildpark.
Northwest Trek is one of my all time favorites and my local Arizona Sonora Desert Museum is up there as well. This fall I will make my first visit to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (and first visit to Alaska) and will be able to compare them.
Northwest Trek was pretty awesome. I think you'll find AWCC to be a scrappy younger sibling to that outstanding facility. AWCC is a bit utilitarian in form, although it's zoological function is pretty impressive to me. The area is breathtaking and the Brown Bear Exhibit is just incredible. I really hope you enjoy your visit. Early Fall is very beautiful up here. It will be very good to see someone else's photos of The Alaska Zoo and the AWCC in the gallery. I look forward to your thoughts on each. If possible try to fit a drive down to Seward onto your agenda.
Utilitarian is a perfect description of AWCC (having just visited). The undisputed star of the facility is the bear complex (huge enclosure for brown bears and adjacent huge enclosure for black bear). They are just completing a small bear education building which will make it even better. I have visited nearly one hundred zoos and this is without question the best bear exhibit I have seen anywhere. I would not be surprised if it is the best in the world.
How many acres is it?
I saw a couple of Brown Bear enclosures in the Czech Republic that were easily the best I've seen. And the pictures of Orsa Bjornpark are pretty impressive too. This would definitely be up there though.
At Kicking Horse Mountain Resort in Golden, British Columbia, there is a Grizzly Bear Interpretative Centre that contains a single male bear. The exhibit is a mind-boggling 20 acres in size and the facility's website claims that it is "the largest enclosed and protected grizzly bear habitat in the world." I've never visited and it would be a great debate to decide whether the establishment would actually qualify as being a "zoo" with only a single bear.
I do not know the exact size and I am not very good at judging sizes. So off the top of my head if I had to guess I would say 2 acres for the black bear side (maybe 3) and 3 acres for the brown bear side (maybe 4)?
