Horicon Marsh Nature Center, Horicon, WI
Located in southern Wisconsin, about an hour’s drive northwest from Milwaukee, lies a virtual paradise for lovers of nature and migrating water fowl. As an extinct glacial lake with the largest intact area of freshwater cattail in the US, the 33,000-acre Horicon Marsh boasts as the home of more than 305 kinds of birds. In addition to the many variety of birds, the marsh is also home to numerous species of mammals and countless varieties of insects and plants. Because of this unique blend of wildlife, Horicon Marsh is a wetland ecosystem protected by the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is designated as a United Nations Wetland of International Importance.
On the southern tip of the marsh is the Horicon Marsh Education & Visitor Center and Explorium. Since its grand opening in August, visitors are “flocking” from across the globe to experience the peace associated with “getting back to nature” as well as learning the history and management of Horicon Marsh. The dual floor facility provides a panoramic overlook of the expansive marsh as well as fascinating interpretive experiences.
Visitors have a unique opportunity to not only witness current wildlife in their native environment but also travel through time by experiencing a plethora of interactive sights, sounds, touches and smells that tell the story of how this marsh has morphed through time. The interpretive experience within the Visitor Center and 4,000-square-foot Explorium was provided by the team of Taylor Studios, Inc. of Rantoul, IL; the exhibit design and fabrication firm and Eidson Studios; the audio/visual and interactive production company.
On the first floor of the facility, the visitor has the opportunity to eavesdrop on the heron rookery located out in the marsh through high powered scopes. For an even better experience, a video monitor allows the visitor to view a live video and audio feed from a “Heron-Cam” located at one of the nests. The visitor can view up-close the daily activities of the herons lying their eggs, hatching and raising their young. The nature camera also transmits the audio of these majestic fowl.
Offering an in-depth study of migratory birds that frequent the marsh, an interactive touch-screen created by Eidson Studios highlights five of these species. This interactive provides detailed information on each species, when they are at the marsh and where their migratory journey takes them. It also instructs the visitor on basic migratory patterns of birds in the Americas.
The visitor then proceeds to the lower level of the facility and enters the Explorium. Here, one is taken on a journey through time covering thousands of years of natural and human history. The first thing visitors see when they descend the stairs is a diorama with a lifelike model of a DNR wildlife educator kneeling in tall grass, uncovering a Clovis spear point. This Clovis point later serves as the interpreter throughout the exhibit.
The first experience is a delightfully chilly tunnel that leads through a re-creation of the glacier that covered the region up until about 12,000 years ago and scraped out the shallow basin that became Horicon Marsh. Within the glacier tunnel is a short film interpreting the advancement and retreat of glaciers; and how wildlife moved in and native people followed to hunt the birds and larger animals.
The next stop brings the visitor to a scene 12,000 years ago where a hunter is napping a Clovis point in preparation for a future hunt. Narrative audio, featuring a familiar Morgan Freeman sounding voice, describes the scene and introduces himself, the Clovis point, as the guide throughout the exhibit.
TheMarsh and Lake area, includes a fossilized mammoth tooth and 10,000-year-old Clovis points that were found in the marsh. There is also a giant wooly mammoth life-form; and a touch-screen interactive that educates about the thousands of effigy mounds the native people built later in the region. This interactive features an effigy mound match game for the visitor to match graphic images of effigy mounds with their description.
“Lake 1845” This area interprets a period when the marsh was altered by European settlers. They dammed the Rock River that flows out of the wetlands, which created the largest man-made lake in the country. Three individuals with dramatically different viewpoints interpret, in first-person, the activities of the lake through brief audio programs that the visitor listens to through Gorilla Audio handsets activated with proximity sensing technology from Technovision.
Continuing into the next area, “Marsh 1869”, the now familiar Clovis point tour guide describes unregulated hunting that eradicated almost all of the wildlife at Horicon. Within this area, exhibit items that the visitor interacts with include identifying duck calls and learning about the hunters that utilized the area in the mid 1800’s. Located in one corner is a recreation of a hunting club filled with items used by the hunters. The visitor selects short audio programs of the hunters talking about these objects and hunting life in general. There are also pelts to touch, scents to smell and giant building blocks to entertain the most active youngsters.
Next came the time that the lake was drained, canals were dredged and people attempted to farm the area within the marsh. The land wasn’t suitable for farming and after a long dry spell, the land caught fire and burned for over a decade. The Clovis point describes the scene: “Lacking water, stripped of wetland vegetation, ditched, tilled, and scorched from peat fires, the farmland lay smoldering atop a wasteland, useless to people…useless to wildlife. I sat atop the landscape again…and I wondered at that time, what could possibly be next?”
Within this area, are samples of muck and peat as well as an animated story of the dredging, farming and peat fires on a video device called a Spin-Browser. The Spin-Browser lets the visitor navigate through the animation with a large knob… going forward and backwards as the visitor chooses.
The next phase of Horicon was a restoration of the marsh to a more natural state. A gentleman named Louis “Curley” Radke led the project to construct a new dam and restore the original water level. Personal items of his are exhibited. This restoration of the water levels led to the rejuvenation of the natural occurring vegetation and the return of wildlife to Horicon Marsh.
Managing the wildlife and habitat of an area this size is a massive undertaking. Three short documentary style films featuring DNR wildlife biologists tell the stories of managing the marsh and the educational opportunities made available at the Education Center. Numerous educational programs are available for young and old alike. One local educator explains that “…it’s important for kids to learn about the marsh… the wildlife… to see the marsh as more than a bunch of water and grass..”
Within this area of the exhibit the visitor also has the chance to experience what it’s like riding in an airboat on the marsh by operating an airboat simulator. The simulator features an 18′ panoramic video screen and interactive technology that allows the visitor to navigate the craft with hand controls similar to an actual airboat. With wind blowing in their faces and subsonic motor vibration rumbling the seating, the visitor takes a ride on the marsh and learns about the watercraft that the wildlife biologists utilize to manage the marsh. A photograph taken of the visitors during the simulation is made available to email to themselves or to loved ones.
“Everyone Lives in a Watershed” is the topic of the next area. The visitor learns how the water levels of the marsh are regulated by operating a water flow mechanism. There is also a large touch-screen interactive that interprets what a watershed is and how that relates to the marsh. An animated video describes how watersheds are similar to an upside down umbrella; the rain that falls at the edge of the umbrella flows toward the center. The video explains that it is important to manage watersheds because along the way from one watershed to another, the water collects pollutants. Questions are posed to the visitor to guess how many gallons of water pass through the marsh daily and there is a game to connect pictures of various water management techniques with their description.
The Exit Experience – At the end of the Explorium is a large projection screen resembling a sketchbook. The sketchbook is flipping through historical images of Horicon Marsh as well as graphical imagery recapping the different transformations of the marsh highlighted throughout the exhibit.
Upon entering a motion detected area, the Clovis point interpreter concludes his story while video of the DNR wildlife educator introduced at the beginning of the Explorium, finds the Clovis point and proceeds to sketch it in her sketchbook. The Clovis point speaks of how the marsh is very much like it was when he was made. “I find myself coming full circle. I was shaped and created by a craftsman alongside this marsh around 12,000 years ago…and today, I was discovered by a friendly woman alongside this marsh 12,000 years later…And she is as good with a sketchbook and paintbrush as the craftsman was with his hands.”
The majority of the audio, video and computer controlled elements of the Explorium are housed within a central location in a rack array of audio processors, video processors, computers and amplifiers. These are all remotely monitored for ease of updating and timely problem solving by Eidson Studios.
