Zoo wins state's top honor for sustainable energy
Courtesy of Rod Hackeny
Posted 4/20/2008
ASHEBORO-The North Carolina Zoo has been named the 2008 recipient of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Champion Award presented this week at the Fifth Annual N.C. Sustainable Energy Conference held in Raleigh.
The Sustainable Energy Awards are presented annually to agencies and individuals that have made outstanding contributions in helping North Carolina achieve its sustainability goals. The zoo was recognized for nearly 20 years as a state leader in environmental stewardship, energy efficiency, alternative fuels and renewable energy.
Led by its Conservation Captains committee, the zoo has developed a variety of sustainable programs including recycling, water meters, reduced water usage, energy management and composting. Other zoo projects include a biodiesel processor that converts waste cooking oil to diesel fuel, solar picnic shelters that produce enough electricity to run 13 homes and a constructed wetland that filters runoff water from its North America parking lot.
In addition to its sustainable practices the zoo also presents education programs on energy conservation and environmental stewardship for the more than 750,000 visitors that annually attend the park.
In a related development during the Energy Conference, Governor Mike Easley announced that the zoo is among 31 state agencies, universities and community colleges to receive a grant from the state’'s first Energy Efficiency Reserve Fund. The zoo will be given $115,000 from the $5 million fund administered by the State Energy Office to replace more than 600 light fixtures in the park’s Stedman Education Center with smaller, more efficient units. It is estimated the project will save $23,000 per year in energy bills.
Zoo’s Watani Grasslands dedication set for April 4
Courtesy of Rod Hackeny
North Carolina Zoo
ASHEBORO- State officials, donors and other invited guests will be on hand at April 4 ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the Watani Grasslands Reserve, an $8.5-million expansion of the North Carolina Zoo’s elephant and rhinoceros exhibits and holding facilities.
The event, set for 11:30 a.m., will mark the completion of a project begun more than 18 months ago. Construction has included a new $2.5-million elephant holding barn, expansion of the elephant exhibit from three-and-a-half to seven acres and transfer of the Southern white rhinos from their previous three-and-a-half-acre exhibit to the 40-acre African Plains habitat.
Named for a Swahili term meaning “fatherland,” the Watani project has enabled the zoo to expand its rhino collection from three to nine animals and its elephant herd from three to seven. Nearly $7.3 million dollars for the project was raised by the N.C. Zoological Society, the zoo’s non-profit support organization, and helped create some of the largest and most modern facilities for the care and rearing of elephants and rhinos in American zoos.
The new exhibits, complete with a new immersion walkway and a host of new educational interpretive facilities for visitors, will open to the public the day after the dedication, on Saturday, April 5. Special events for visitors will include African musicians, dancers, storytellers and crafts displays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, April 5-6.
Among the speakers for the ribbon cutting will be Dr. Martin Tchamba, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) official who has helped lead the N.C. Zoo’s elephant conservation program in Cameroon, Africa. Tchamba, director of conservation for WWF's Central Africa Regional Program Office, and Dr. Mike Loomis, the zoo’s Chief Veterinarian, have been the primary architects of a 10-year project that utilizes satellite technology to document the migration patterns of elephants in and around several of Cameroon’s national parks. Their efforts have been directly responsible for major reductions in both elephant and human deaths as well as crop losses in the project areas.
Other speakers will include Dr. David Jones, director of the N.C. Zoo, Russ Williams, executive director of the Zoological Society, U.S. Representative Howard Coble (R-NC, 6th District) and Bill Ross, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the department of state government that operates the zoo.
For more information on the Watani Grasslands Reserve or general zoo information, visit the park's Web site at www.nczoo.org. The zoo is located on Zoo Parkway (N.C. 159) six miles southeast of Asheboro off U.S. 64 and U.S. 220. Summer operating hours from April through October are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Admission is $10 for adults, $6 for children 2-12 and $8 for senior citizens 62-plus.
