Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Groundbreaking for Wyoming Dinosaur Center focused on environmental impact
Dignitaries and staff for the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Dinoasur Center on Saturday. Pictured are (from left to right): Chloe Crosby, Jamie Graves, Elise Johnson, Angela Reddick, Levi Shinkle, Bob Krisko, Howard Miessler, Janet Chimenti, Thermopolis Mayor Mike Mortimore, WDC Executive Director Angie Guyon, Dave Koerwitz, Tourism Director Amanda Moeller, WDC Education Director Jessica Lippincott, Linda Spear, Howie Samelson, London Jenks, Bill Wahl and Jack Turnbull.
THERMOPOLIS – With the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Wyoming Dinosaur Center on Saturday, the museum dedicated to a history long lost, is beginning the journey to become a facility unlike anything seen in modern times, in terms of design and environmental impact.
“We would like to take [the WDC] a step further in design,” said Education Director Jessica Lippincott, “no other museum in the country has met the living building challenge, so we would like to be the first.”
As defined by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, to be used by WDC architect the Portland-based SERA, the living building challenge would be platinum level structure, utilizing the most in energy-saving technology.
“If we meet the platinum level with the center, we will be producing our own electricity and recycling all of our water, right on site,” said Lippincott.
A popular “green building” certification system, LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Business Council to help communities produce efficient and environmentally friendly developments across the country.
So far, no museums have used the system to create a fully-sustained facility, although the system has been used across the country to create data centers, schools and healthcare centers.
In some states, the incentives for building according to the LEED design program reap benefits beyond environmental impacts. According to the Green Building Council, Cincinnati, Ohio, offers 100 percent property tax exemption for green building, while Nevada exempts all LEED projects from state taxes. The state of Maryland funds 50 percent of all construction for public schools utilizing the system.
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center will be located in the Red Rock Business Park in Thermopolis, and will feature over 75,000 square feet of research, classroom, and museum space, along with an IMAX movie theater.
A regular employer of 15 full-time employees and dozens of volunteers, the center hosts up to 50 interns every year, students of paleontology. The center is primarily funded through educational grants, private donors and public foundations, relying on little to no state funding.
The Wyoming Dinosaur Center first opened in August 1995 and recently reorganized as a non-profit educational corporation dedicated to science education with an emphasis on the geologic and biologic history of the Earth and Wyoming and committed to preserving Wyoming’s rich fossil heritage.
As an internationally-recognized Wyoming tourist destination, the Center hosts approximately 50,000 visitors yearly and offers a variety of hands-on educational programs for adults and young people, most notably its popular Dig-for-a-Day dig site experience.
