Great Bear Wilderness - Trail Entrance

This new North American themed exhibit complex includes a large American bison exhibit, a bald eagle aviary, a grizzly bear exhibit with underwater viewing, a polar bear exhibit with underwater viewing, another polar bear exhibit with den viewing, a shop called Bear Crossings, a counter service restaurant called Bison Prairie Grill, and an indoor classroom with views into the bison and second polar bear exhibits. It also incorporates the existing Wolf Woods exhibit for Mexican Gray Wolf, and acts as the entrance to the existing Salt Creek Wilderness nature trail loop.

No wonder this project cost $27 million! The interpretative signs, graphics and various buildings all appear to be brilliant and extremely well-designed. The new animal habitats (grizzly bear, polar bear, bald eagle + bison) all range from average to slightly above average, but the visitor amenities are top notch.

The plantings are very good too but it is not yet apparent. Care was taken to preserve some existing deciduous native trees, while a large variety of conifers are designed to create a more authentic experience of the theme of Yellowstone to the Yukon. Many of the new trees and shrubs will eventually hide the unadorned backsides of the viewing building and bear exhibits as well as the poorly chosen location for the bison holding area which is stranded close to major walkways. The visitor amenity that is poorly designed is the new restaurant, which is a basic cmu construction with a bit of wood slapped on the front and a low flat roof with all the utilities visible on top. Its dining area is all outside in a large expanse of mulch filled with traditional picnic benches around an existing chaotic play structure area that seems like extreme value engineering. This is not the fantastic Natinal Park lodge-themed restaurant with an expansive view overlooking the prairie that I envisioned!