Bombay Hook Wildlife Refuge in Smyrna opens a new visitors center.
The visitor’s center will offer exhibits while housing administrative offices and a community multipurpose room for group meetings and workshops.
Sen. Tom Carper says tourism is the second largest economic driver in Delaware, and the new center will enhance that experience.
“One of the reasons people come here is to be close to nature and to bring their kids and their grandchildren and so forth, and it’s beautiful," Carper says.
Carper says most of the $5.6 million project funding came from the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Regional Director Wendi Weber says its visitor centers provide an opportunity for people to learn about their own backyards and get involved in keeping them clean.
“There are a lot of studies that show the more time you spend out in nature, the more healing it is for you. But also just to have clean air and clean water is what we all need if we’re going to be a healthy country, we need to protect our natural resources and that will then lead to jobs and a strong economy. It’s really key to everything we do, it’s foundational to everything.”
Project Leader for the Coastal Delaware National Wildlife Refuge Complex Katie Toniolo says the building is also “green,” with solar panels, electric vehicle charging stations, and “bird-friendly” film on the windows.
“That basically will reduce or stop bird strikes which is a big problem on a lot of buildings, where birds will see a reflected habitat and they think they’re flying into their habitat when they’re actually flying into a window," Toniolo says.
Toniolo says they plan to be open to the public within the next month.
