Morris casts vision for rebranded museum

After seven years of renovations, America’s Wildlife Museum and Aquarium, formerly the Wonders of Wildlife, is scheduled to reopen in spring 2016.

“We embarked on reworking and creating this facility, and everybody here is going, ‘What the heck is taking so long with this project and what’s going on?’” Bass Pro Shops founder John Morris said during a March 18 announcement in which he addressed the lengthy construction schedule and its many deadline changes.

“We had a project here before, and we feel like we’ve got a chance to create a really national conservation destination attraction.”

Morris and museum board members revealed the museum campus plan on site and amid construction adjacent to Bass Pro Shops’ flagship store, 1935 S. Campbell Ave. Local media were invited for a sneak peek in conjunction with the 10th anniversary Professional Outdoor Media Association conference in town March 18-21.

When complete, the expansion will encompass some 315,000 square feet of freshwater and saltwater aquariums and museum space. Over one mile of paths and walkways will take visitors through over 40 exhibits, dioramas and biomes filled with 35,000 live animals, including black bears, otters and countless aquatic creatures in recreations of their natural environments.

Museum officials declined to comment on the cost of the privately funded project, but in 2014, reported estimates were north of $80 million, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. The bulk of funding is by the nonprofit Johnny Morris Foundation.

Morris and museum board members say the facility is modeled after the Museum of Natural History in New York City.

“I just (have) to say that it took 13 years to get that place complete,” Morris said. “By that rate, we’re kind of on a lightning-fast pace.”

Four components of the museum will open in phases: a Fishing Heritage Hall; the International Game Fish Association’s Fishing Hall of Fame and associated exhibits relocated from Dania Beach, Fla.; a Hunting Heritage Hall; and the Boone and Crocket Club’s Cody, Wyo.-based National Collection of Heads and Horns, which dates back to 1906 and club founder Theodore Roosevelt’s presidency.

Springfield also will hold the Boone and Crockett Club’s North American Big Game Awards, which occurs every three years and is scheduled next in July 2016.

“We are at the conservation trailhead of the nation right here, and it continues to grow,” said museum board Chairman Rob Keck. “Our hope is to inspire visitors into action in conservation, whether it’s in their own backyard or a much larger landscape.”

Keck said the 50,000-square-foot Hunting Heritage Hall would include such one-of-a-kind draws as the King of Bucks, a collection of trophy whitetail deer, the Art Dubs collection of game sheep and an African savanna exhibit.

“Tip of the iceberg”
Nearly complete is the Shipwreck Gallery, a conservation-themed room of aquariums recreating ocean habitats with an 86,000-gallon, two-story saltwater tank featuring a model sunken ship as its centerpiece.

“There are five tanks bigger than this,” said Allan Marshall, the museum’s director of live exhibits. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

The Shipwreck Gallery’s lower level will be surrounded by a 30,000-gallon stingray touch tank – one of the many aquariums that in sum will hold 1.3 million gallons of water.

“With aquariums, everyone is trying to do something different, and something edgy,” Marshall added. “The key is finding a new way to engage people and teach them about conservation at the same time.”

The museum’s entrance is designed with an immersive 300,000-gallon ring tank with a 360-degree and overhead view of an oceanic environment.

“As you walk into this building in Springfield, in Missouri, in the middle of the country, you can stand for a moment in the middle of the ocean,” said Michael Oleksak of Boston-based Cosestudi, one of the aquarium’s architects. “It’s a very compelling initial experience.”

Another area has a coral reef drop tank over 30 feet deep to allow diver demonstrations and live interactions with visitors.

“I’ve been fortunate to be involved in the design and development of aquariums around the world for almost 30 years now, and I can say with confidence that the facility that John and his team have been building here in Springfield will be one of the most unique and in my mind one of the most important aquariums in the world,” Oleksak added, noting the coral reef tank was fabricated from stainless steel by Springfield’s Paul Mueller Co., which built Bass Pro’s first aquarium over 30 years ago.

Morris said the tank is a tribute to company founder Paul Mueller, who died Jan. 19 at age 99.

“That was kind of a personal passion of mine because Paul Mueller was my father-in-law and I thought the world of him. I thought it would be neat if we had this big tank if we could fabricate it with local craftsmen and artists,” Morris said. “So that’s something that just kind of added a connection to Springfield and the people in Springfield, being able to showcase all the work that Mueller can do.”

On the horizon
Construction is about 80 percent complete, Morris said.

“It’s pretty far along,” he said, pointing to the possibilities when wrapped up. “We hope to have a big world fishing fair like we did back here in 1988. It put our store on the map, and that’s what we want to do next spring when all of this is fully developed and ready to open.”

The new additions would join already completed phases of the museum campus, including the John A. and Genny Morris Conservation Education Center, housing the Wonders of the Ozarks Learning Facility and the National Outdoor Recreation and Conservation schools.

Morris said a long-term goal is to broadcast educational programs to classrooms around the country.

Other on-site museums include the Natural Archery Hall of Fame and the NRA National Sporting Arms Museum. The latter, which has had over 500,000 visitors since moving to Bass Pro from Halifax, Va., in 2013, is the kind of track record Morris aims to emulate.

“About half the population of the country lives within a day’s drive of where we are and not everybody has the chance maybe to go to New York City to see the Museum of Natural History,” Morris said. “We hope it becomes, with all these different components, a must-see destination for the 60 million people in this country who love to hunt and fish and enjoy the outdoors.”[[In-content Ad]]