Saturday, April 28th, 2012
ZooChat Review #100 – Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Park’s website:
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Park Map:
Walking Tour > Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is an AZA-accredited facility that opened in 1975. It is 725 acres in size and like the nearby Point Defiance Zoo is owned and operated by Metro Parks Tacoma. Annual attendance hovers just under 200,000, there are around 200 animals in total, and the park features only northwest wildlife. The establishment is divided into three main areas: Tram Tour that takes visitors through a 435-acre enclosure; Walking Tour with a wide variety of North American mammals and birds; and Nature Trails, a series of different trails through dense forest.
I’ve visited the park on four occasions (2005, 2006, 2009 and 2012) and the facility basically remains the same as the years go by. Other than replacing great horned owls with turkey vultures there has not been any new species or any new animal exhibits in almost a decade. There have been minor improvements along the way in terms of slight upgrades to benches and viewing areas, and both Northwest Trek and Point Defiance Zoo will debut the brand-new “Zipline & Treetop Adventure Course” this spring. The one at Northwest Trek is due to open by the end of May.
Walking Tour:
This area is the highlight of the park, and there is a fairly comprehensive variety of North American mammals in this zone. There are two massive enclosures featuring grizzly and black bears and the easiest way to describe the habitats is to point out that the park has essentially taken a few acres of dense woodland and erected a chain-link fence around the perimeter. Each bear exhibit is perhaps 2 acres in size, there is an upper viewing deck that gazes down into the enclosures, and also a lower viewing deck that places visitors in close proximity to the bears. In fact, the moderate level of hotwire makes it seem as if very little is between the bruins and humans but this only adds to the excitement of seeing the bears lumbering through their forest home.
A trio of cat exhibits date from the late 1980’s but they are all still superb. Tall trees allow for some climbing opportunities as metal plates are on the foliage but up high so the cats cannot scale the upper canopy but still gain substantial height. Cougars, bobcats and lynx are separated from visitors by a stream that runs through the exhibits, and the fairly still water acts as a moat between the land and the raised viewing deck where visitors peer down on the cats. Glass viewing windows on a lower level would be excellent, but here the fun is in attempting to locate an animal in the undergrowth.
The canid section is represented by a trio of exhibits that are all exemplary. The gray wolves have a large section of forest to roam, and like the coyote and red fox exhibits the animals are separated from humans via chain-link fencing on three sides and an open moated area at the front with very little hotwire. The wolves are also seen via the Baker Research Cabin, a cozy little hut that could hold perhaps a dozen visitors moving around fairly comfortably. There are three large windows in the cabin that allow for viewing opportunities of the wolves, as well as a short wolf tunnel that leads to another viewing window. The cabin itself is rustic in appearance, and the walls are packed with information on the behavior of wolves in the wild. The coyote and red fox exhibits are perhaps even more naturalistic, as the chain-link fencing in the background is mainly obscured by plantings. Those last two habitats were opened to the public in 2003 and represent the newest additions to the park.
The small mammal zone is perhaps the most popular section of the entire park, as there are 8 species contained within 9 exhibits and I always sense an air of excitement as visitors move back and forth from each enclosure. The five species in the Forest Animals section are: fisher, wolverine, striped skunk, porcupine and badger. The three species in the Wetlands Animals section are: raccoon, river otter and beaver. On my visit in 2009 there were wolverines in two enclosures while this time around there was a pair of exhibits for fishers as the Forest Animals zone has an “extra exhibit” that features species in need of separation/breeding success/rotation. All of the enclosures still hold up well decades after being constructed, although the fishers and wolverines were extremely active and seemed to be confined in exhibits that were a little too small for their robust frames. Underwater viewing is available for the beavers and otters, and the beavers, otters, raccoons, wolverines and fishers are all able to be seen in their dens.
Bird Exhibits – There are 5 bird exhibits in the center of the park, and they are all located between the main entrance and the Tram Tour Station. The golden eagle and bald eagle enclosures feature two birds of each species and there is nothing separating the birds from humans other than a low wooden fence at the front and chain-link fencing hidden in the undergrowth along the other three sides. Turkey vultures, barn owls and snowy owls constitute the species in the other three exhibits, and the aviaries feature mesh fronts and are adequate in size but nothing spectacular.
Cheney Family Discovery Center – This small building is always warm and cozy but offers little for anyone without children. There are 5 exhibits that feature animals (Pacific giant salamander, western toad, gopher snake, rubber boa and honey bee) and the center is filled with posters, pelts, drawing books, taxidermy specimens, and other odds n’ sods.
Tram Tour:
This is essentially an hour-long tour through a 435-acre exhibit, and while it is definitely not kid-friendly due to the length of the tour it is well worth undertaking for any major zoo fan. All of the animals have free rein of the entire area, and they can only be seen from the tour. There are 7 species of hoofstock in the enclosure: woodland caribou, Roosevelt elk, black-tail deer, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, bison and moose. On this particular visit I spotted 3 trumpeter swans, several western painted turtles, a pileated woodpecker noisily bashing at a tree, about 25 bighorn sheep (including a bachelor herd), all 3 of the park's Rocky Mountain goats (1.2), a handful of woodland caribou, about 20 elk (including a bachelor herd), a single female moose (I believe that the park has 3 altogether), about 15 bison and a handful of black-tailed deer. The naturalist guide said that there are anywhere from 40-50 black-tailed deer roaming the 435-acre enclosure.
I’m not a huge fan of passing captive animals in moving vehicles (trams, monorails, safari jeeps, trains, etc.) but in this case having 435 acres at their disposal is a marvelous benefit for the animals. The tram moves quite slowly and will almost stop at times if an animal is alongside the paved road, and there is a steep climb of almost 1,000 feet in elevation that allows for some splendid views. The herds of animals are managed with contraceptives, and it is interesting to see unusual sights such as a male bison crashing through the woods or a Rocky Mountain goat grazing on the edge of a meadow.
Nature Trails:
The park has about 4 miles of self-guided nature trails that do not feature any captive animals and do not seem to be very popular with the majority of guests. There is the Hidden Meadow Loop (0.25 miles), Triangle Loop (0.3 miles), Reflection Loop (0.3 miles), Half Mile Loop (0.5 miles), Ohop Loop (1 mile) and Sweetwater Springs Track (1 mile) to the right of the Tram Tour Station.
OVERALL:
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is nestled in a hotbed of captive wildlife institutions in the Pacific Northwest. Within about 40 minutes of each other, and major cities Seattle and Tacoma, resides one of America’s best zoos (Woodland Park); the #8 most popular aquarium in the United States (Seattle Aquarium); a cool little zoo that has many unusual animals (Point Defiance); and what is basically an open range zoo (Northwest Trek). There is even Cougar Mountain Zoo, if one wanted to see what a crappy, non-AZA accredited institution looks like!
Northwest Trek is a full 3-hour visit, as the Tram Tour is an hour and the Walking Tour is a minimum of an hour as well. Between taking time to locate the animals in their forest homes to checking out the nature center and bird aviaries it is not difficult to fill 3 hours. However, many families were not taking the Tram Tour as it would be very difficult to keep young children amused for a full hour-long journey and reportedly that is why San Diego Zoo Safari Park abandoned its lengthy WGASA monorail tour. I visited Northwest Trek without my wife and two young children, as the park is not very family friendly. The Tram Tour is too long and boring for little kids, the nature center is not very large, and the Walking Tour features long pathways to leaf-strewn enclosures where it is difficult to find the inhabitants. Also, due to the heavy canopy it is consistently chilly strolling around the park and I’ve always had to bring a sweater on my 4 visits. Perhaps the new “Zipline & Treetop Adventure Course” will bring in a younger crowd.
For ZooChatters Northwest Trek is superb, with borderline outstanding exhibits and a plethora of North American animals scattered around the grounds. The Tram Tour is interesting to see 7 species of hoofstock in a gargantuan enclosure, the Walking Tour features some of the best bear, canid, feline and small mammal enclosures to be found in any American zoo, and there are many photographers who have tripods set up attempting to take pictures that will replicate the natural environment of animals that reside in the Pacific Northwest. It is well worth a visit and I would highly recommend the park to any major zoo fan.
ZooChat Review #100 – Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Park’s website:
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Park Map:
Walking Tour > Northwest Trek Wildlife Park
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is an AZA-accredited facility that opened in 1975. It is 725 acres in size and like the nearby Point Defiance Zoo is owned and operated by Metro Parks Tacoma. Annual attendance hovers just under 200,000, there are around 200 animals in total, and the park features only northwest wildlife. The establishment is divided into three main areas: Tram Tour that takes visitors through a 435-acre enclosure; Walking Tour with a wide variety of North American mammals and birds; and Nature Trails, a series of different trails through dense forest.
I’ve visited the park on four occasions (2005, 2006, 2009 and 2012) and the facility basically remains the same as the years go by. Other than replacing great horned owls with turkey vultures there has not been any new species or any new animal exhibits in almost a decade. There have been minor improvements along the way in terms of slight upgrades to benches and viewing areas, and both Northwest Trek and Point Defiance Zoo will debut the brand-new “Zipline & Treetop Adventure Course” this spring. The one at Northwest Trek is due to open by the end of May.
Walking Tour:
This area is the highlight of the park, and there is a fairly comprehensive variety of North American mammals in this zone. There are two massive enclosures featuring grizzly and black bears and the easiest way to describe the habitats is to point out that the park has essentially taken a few acres of dense woodland and erected a chain-link fence around the perimeter. Each bear exhibit is perhaps 2 acres in size, there is an upper viewing deck that gazes down into the enclosures, and also a lower viewing deck that places visitors in close proximity to the bears. In fact, the moderate level of hotwire makes it seem as if very little is between the bruins and humans but this only adds to the excitement of seeing the bears lumbering through their forest home.
A trio of cat exhibits date from the late 1980’s but they are all still superb. Tall trees allow for some climbing opportunities as metal plates are on the foliage but up high so the cats cannot scale the upper canopy but still gain substantial height. Cougars, bobcats and lynx are separated from visitors by a stream that runs through the exhibits, and the fairly still water acts as a moat between the land and the raised viewing deck where visitors peer down on the cats. Glass viewing windows on a lower level would be excellent, but here the fun is in attempting to locate an animal in the undergrowth.
The canid section is represented by a trio of exhibits that are all exemplary. The gray wolves have a large section of forest to roam, and like the coyote and red fox exhibits the animals are separated from humans via chain-link fencing on three sides and an open moated area at the front with very little hotwire. The wolves are also seen via the Baker Research Cabin, a cozy little hut that could hold perhaps a dozen visitors moving around fairly comfortably. There are three large windows in the cabin that allow for viewing opportunities of the wolves, as well as a short wolf tunnel that leads to another viewing window. The cabin itself is rustic in appearance, and the walls are packed with information on the behavior of wolves in the wild. The coyote and red fox exhibits are perhaps even more naturalistic, as the chain-link fencing in the background is mainly obscured by plantings. Those last two habitats were opened to the public in 2003 and represent the newest additions to the park.
The small mammal zone is perhaps the most popular section of the entire park, as there are 8 species contained within 9 exhibits and I always sense an air of excitement as visitors move back and forth from each enclosure. The five species in the Forest Animals section are: fisher, wolverine, striped skunk, porcupine and badger. The three species in the Wetlands Animals section are: raccoon, river otter and beaver. On my visit in 2009 there were wolverines in two enclosures while this time around there was a pair of exhibits for fishers as the Forest Animals zone has an “extra exhibit” that features species in need of separation/breeding success/rotation. All of the enclosures still hold up well decades after being constructed, although the fishers and wolverines were extremely active and seemed to be confined in exhibits that were a little too small for their robust frames. Underwater viewing is available for the beavers and otters, and the beavers, otters, raccoons, wolverines and fishers are all able to be seen in their dens.
Bird Exhibits – There are 5 bird exhibits in the center of the park, and they are all located between the main entrance and the Tram Tour Station. The golden eagle and bald eagle enclosures feature two birds of each species and there is nothing separating the birds from humans other than a low wooden fence at the front and chain-link fencing hidden in the undergrowth along the other three sides. Turkey vultures, barn owls and snowy owls constitute the species in the other three exhibits, and the aviaries feature mesh fronts and are adequate in size but nothing spectacular.
Cheney Family Discovery Center – This small building is always warm and cozy but offers little for anyone without children. There are 5 exhibits that feature animals (Pacific giant salamander, western toad, gopher snake, rubber boa and honey bee) and the center is filled with posters, pelts, drawing books, taxidermy specimens, and other odds n’ sods.
Tram Tour:
This is essentially an hour-long tour through a 435-acre exhibit, and while it is definitely not kid-friendly due to the length of the tour it is well worth undertaking for any major zoo fan. All of the animals have free rein of the entire area, and they can only be seen from the tour. There are 7 species of hoofstock in the enclosure: woodland caribou, Roosevelt elk, black-tail deer, Rocky Mountain goat, bighorn sheep, bison and moose. On this particular visit I spotted 3 trumpeter swans, several western painted turtles, a pileated woodpecker noisily bashing at a tree, about 25 bighorn sheep (including a bachelor herd), all 3 of the park's Rocky Mountain goats (1.2), a handful of woodland caribou, about 20 elk (including a bachelor herd), a single female moose (I believe that the park has 3 altogether), about 15 bison and a handful of black-tailed deer. The naturalist guide said that there are anywhere from 40-50 black-tailed deer roaming the 435-acre enclosure.
I’m not a huge fan of passing captive animals in moving vehicles (trams, monorails, safari jeeps, trains, etc.) but in this case having 435 acres at their disposal is a marvelous benefit for the animals. The tram moves quite slowly and will almost stop at times if an animal is alongside the paved road, and there is a steep climb of almost 1,000 feet in elevation that allows for some splendid views. The herds of animals are managed with contraceptives, and it is interesting to see unusual sights such as a male bison crashing through the woods or a Rocky Mountain goat grazing on the edge of a meadow.
Nature Trails:
The park has about 4 miles of self-guided nature trails that do not feature any captive animals and do not seem to be very popular with the majority of guests. There is the Hidden Meadow Loop (0.25 miles), Triangle Loop (0.3 miles), Reflection Loop (0.3 miles), Half Mile Loop (0.5 miles), Ohop Loop (1 mile) and Sweetwater Springs Track (1 mile) to the right of the Tram Tour Station.
OVERALL:
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park is nestled in a hotbed of captive wildlife institutions in the Pacific Northwest. Within about 40 minutes of each other, and major cities Seattle and Tacoma, resides one of America’s best zoos (Woodland Park); the #8 most popular aquarium in the United States (Seattle Aquarium); a cool little zoo that has many unusual animals (Point Defiance); and what is basically an open range zoo (Northwest Trek). There is even Cougar Mountain Zoo, if one wanted to see what a crappy, non-AZA accredited institution looks like!
Northwest Trek is a full 3-hour visit, as the Tram Tour is an hour and the Walking Tour is a minimum of an hour as well. Between taking time to locate the animals in their forest homes to checking out the nature center and bird aviaries it is not difficult to fill 3 hours. However, many families were not taking the Tram Tour as it would be very difficult to keep young children amused for a full hour-long journey and reportedly that is why San Diego Zoo Safari Park abandoned its lengthy WGASA monorail tour. I visited Northwest Trek without my wife and two young children, as the park is not very family friendly. The Tram Tour is too long and boring for little kids, the nature center is not very large, and the Walking Tour features long pathways to leaf-strewn enclosures where it is difficult to find the inhabitants. Also, due to the heavy canopy it is consistently chilly strolling around the park and I’ve always had to bring a sweater on my 4 visits. Perhaps the new “Zipline & Treetop Adventure Course” will bring in a younger crowd.
For ZooChatters Northwest Trek is superb, with borderline outstanding exhibits and a plethora of North American animals scattered around the grounds. The Tram Tour is interesting to see 7 species of hoofstock in a gargantuan enclosure, the Walking Tour features some of the best bear, canid, feline and small mammal enclosures to be found in any American zoo, and there are many photographers who have tripods set up attempting to take pictures that will replicate the natural environment of animals that reside in the Pacific Northwest. It is well worth a visit and I would highly recommend the park to any major zoo fan.
