PRESS RELEASES 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Projects: National Elk Refuge
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Jackson, WY) April 29, 2011
Three American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) projects on the National Elk Refuge that were under construction last year will soon be up and running, including two public use projects and an expansion of the Refuge’s irrigation system.
Jackson Hole & Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center Exhibits
The Jackson Hole & Greater
Yellowstone Visitor Center has
been a hub of activity for the past
two weeks, as 26 new permanent
exhibits have been installed
inside the center. The updated
displays replace a collection of
dated panels that lacked a
cohesive look. The new exhibits
feature theme-based interpretive
material that introduces visitors
to Federal lands within the Greater
Yelloswtone Ecosystem and
emphasizes partnerships in
wildlife management within the
Greater Yellowstone Area.
The exhibits were funded primarily through $241,200 in ARRA funding in 2009. Formations, Inc., a Portland-based firm specializing in interpretive exhibits and thematic interiors, was awarded the contract and worked with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service personnel from the National Elk Refuge and Region 6 Education & Visitor Services Division throughout the various stages of the project. After extensive discussions, design work, and budget reviews, a final design plan was completed in September 2010, with fabrication underway by October. The exhibits were approved in early April 2011 and arrived in Jackson for installation on April 15. Local contractors were hired to assist with the preparation and installation of the exhibits.
In addition to enhancing the interpretive experience, the project will greatly improve accessibility for visitors of all abilities. Tactile, audio, and Braille elements take the displays beyond base, or universal, design standards. “This project promotes a wonderful opportunity to learn through a full range of universal design and accessibility elements woven into the exhibit storytelling,” explained Fred Paris, Chief Operating Officer at Formations, Inc.
Many of the displays include tactile pieces such as hides, tracks, and even small scale models of the animals in both a large diorama and an outdoor sculpture. A tactile wayfinding map near the entrance to the building orients visitors to the facility, while a raised and labeled map of the Greater Yellowstone Area provides an overview of the region. Audio tours are in development and will be available in September. The primary audio tour will give a summary of the information in the exhibits; an audio description option will include additional narration that describes the displays, offers a direct reading of the panel text, and helps with wayfinding.
The exhibits include messages to inspire families and other visitors to learn more about the resources, encourage them to spend time outdoors, and help them identify ways they can be good stewards of their public lands.
Last year, the Visitor Center recorded a total visitation of approximately 320,000 people.
North Highway 89 Pathway
Project
The first phase of the North
Highway 89 multi-use pathway
will open to the public on Sunday,
May 1, giving pedestrians and
non-motorized users a travel option
on the east side of Highway 89
between the Town of Jackson and
the Grand Teton National Park
south boundary turnout.
One area of the Phase I section,
located just south of the Jackson
National Fish Hatchery, will remain
under construction for several
weeks while crews finish work on
a retaining wall and install guard
rails. A short detour around the
construction area will briefly divert
pathway users through a highway turnout and onto the shoulder of
the road.
Crews are scheduled to begin work on Monday, May 2 to build a highway underpass that connects Phase 1 of the pathway to the National Museum of Wildlife Art, located on the west side of Highway 89. Until the completion of the underpass in late May, a temporary detour will be necessary to route pathway users around the underpass construction area. Two-way traffic for motorized vehicles on the highway is expected to be maintained during the underpass construction, but speed reductions will be in effect on North 89 between Jackson and Moose Junction for the remainder of the summer as Teton County and Grand Teton National Park complete various construction projects.
Work on Phase II of the North Highway 89 project is expected to get underway in mid-May and be completed by the end of September. This construction phase will continue the pathway north from the Grand Teton National Park south boundary turnout to the Gros Ventre River, joining the approved Grand Teton National Park pathway system currently under design and scheduled for construction later this summer.
An Irrigation Expansion Project to improve the production and management of winter forage for elk and bison populations is moving closer to completion as Refuge staff work through final preparations to begin fully utilizing the system in early June.
Within the next few weeks, a crew will finish construction on portions of the underground pipeline system along with finalizing procedures needed to ready the system. Refuge staff expect they will need approximately one to two weeks after opening the system for the nearly 50 miles of pipeline to fill with water before the system can be fully operational for the first time. “The first full scale use of the system will be critical,” Refuge Manager Steve Kallin explained. “We need to vent the air and not put too much pressure on the pipeline when we fill it.” The Refuge tested a small portion of the system last fall on the south end of the Refuge after much of the pipeline installation was completed, but the K-Line system has not been completely filled with water and opened to large-scale irrigation.
In mid-May, representatives from the K-Line company will travel to the Refuge to train staff on the Global Positioning System (GPS) component of the system. The satellite system will give operators real-time information on the location of the portable K-Lines, which can be conveniently moved from one irrigation area to another through the use of a utility terrain vehicle (UTV). The system will also communicate to operators where to pick up and drop off the lines in pre-programmed irrigation zones.
The GPS information can also be downloaded and used by the Refuge’s biologist when creating annual forage reports. The data can help determine the needs of individual grass species and help with overall forage production.
The Irrigation Expansion Project was one of the largest ARRA habitat enhancement projects in the nation for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. The expansion of the Refuge’s previous irrigation methods, which primarily relied on flood irrigation, is a strategy to benefit the long term health of wintering wildlife by reducing reliance on supplemental feeding and reducing the risk of disease transmission by dispersing concentrations of bison and elk.
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