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The New Mexico BioPark plans to begin building a new otter exhibit, hinging on bond sales for the project around March of 2015. The exhibit is expected to be open to the public by 2016, creating much needed Albuquerque construction jobs.
Zoos in nearly 40 states now feature otter exhibits, pointing to the love so many have for these playful creatures.
Barry Bitzer, director of devvelopment for the New Mexico BioPark Society says that an architectural rendering and plan for the exhibit has already been designed.
The Otter exhibit’s construction corresponds to the recent comeback of otters to New Mexico, thanks in part to the efforts of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish who began a reintroduction effort in 2006. The mammal had disappeared from New Mexico over the past 50 years, with the last known otter caught in a trap in the Gila river in 1953.
The otters were released in the upper Rio Grande in the Taoss area where they remain, and are growing in numbers, residing now at Cochiti Lake, tributary streams around Taos, and even up into Colorado.
Reintroduction efforts across the U..S. have resulted in healthy populations now present across 90 percent of the nation.
Building and maintaining a functional exhibit is very pricey. The exhibit at Long Beach, California cost more than $4 million to build, a Tennessee exhibit had a price tag of $2 million. The otter exhibit at the BioPark is expected to fall on the lower end of these figures, at $2.5 million.
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Founded in 1949 to provide New Mexico contractors with local project information, Construction Reporter has grown steadily in size and coverage area, today serving the commercial construction industry throughout the Southwest. Our mission is to help our customers succeed by delivering reliable, comprehensive, up-to-the-minute information on projects in planning and out for bid in New Mexico and the surrounding states. We are passionate about helping our member companies grow by delivering the most bidding opportunities, the most efficient bidding tools, and the most industry exposure of any news service in the region.
