Oak Hammock Marsh’s Wetland Discovery Centre reopening after 18 months

It’s been a long time coming – nearly two years – but Oak Hammock Marsh’s Wetland Discovery Centre is finally opening its doors to the public again this weekend.

The discovery centre is where each year 100,000 people come to learn about wetlands and Manitoba’s ecosystem.

“We are here today at Oak Hammock Marsh and the countdown is on,” said Jacques Bourgeois of the Wetland Discovery Centre. “We’re just a few days away from our grand opening. We’re so excited. It’s been a long 18 months, and now the day has finally come.

“We’re all excited. At some points we’re like, ‘is it gonna be finally happening?’ Then here we are just a few days away.”

Bourgeois, who was bustling with anticipation for Saturday’s grand opening, says the centre’s old exhibits were three decades old and in serious need of repair.

“Well, put it this way: a few of the exhibits, we used a lot of duct tape in some places,” he said. “We had a few damaged too, some water leaking and things like that. And that’s why that project, which was just fixing the exhibits, took on a much larger scope.

“We’re very excited to showcase all the new things we’ve done. We’ve kind of taken old exhibits that were like 30 (years old) and we’ve kind of given a new life to it. Basically it’s a brand new experience where, people who’ve been here before, they won’t recognize the place. It’s all exciting, it’s all new, it’s all hands on, so we can’t wait to showcase that to people.

Although Bourgeois is excited for visitors to see all the renovations, he gave CityNews a sneak peek at some of his favourite parts of the centre.

“Some of it was hands-on before, but we made sure that we had some hands-on activity in every room and every area,” he said. “You can actually do something, touch something, play with something. It makes for a better learning experience in my opinion.

“They get to take bugs from the marsh and put them under a microscope and magnify them thousands of time to see all the small little adaptations. Really, really cool. You can also see the big wall of species. We actually used the height of our main room to showcase all the different species that live in wetlands, also lots of fun. So lots of fun things to see and do, definitely.”

Bourgeois says visitors can even get on a boat and experience the marsh from inside the discovery centre.

“You go into a boat, you turn on the engine and you can see the marsh sort of right behind you and as the wind blows into your hair. It’s pretty cool,” he said.

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All the exhibits were made in Toronto by a company called Kubik Maltbie.

“So every measurement, every little dots on the ‘i’s, every small detail had to be done,” Bourgeois explained. “They were shipped here and put back into place. So sometimes there was a few things that didn’t work quite as expected, but we fixed those and I think we’re all ready for the public to enjoy them.”

Bourgeois says the main message is for visitors to understand just how important the wetlands are.

“Not just for the birds. I mean, we do have tons of birds. … (The wetlands) are really vital for our environment. For example, they prevent flood, they help with drought, they capture the excess carbon, they clean the water naturally. They’re the earth’s kidneys. They are vital for us as well, so that’s a message we’re trying to get to people.”

Saturday’s grand reopening will begin with a 10 a.m. ribbon cutting ceremony, and the first 100 visitors will win prizes. Admission will be at half price for the entire weekend.