HUTCHINSON, KS (AP) – Two new educational centers in central Kansas are attracting bird-watchers from across the globe.

Both the Great Bend Zoo's Raptor Center and the Kansas Wetlands Education Center, which overlooks Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area, are being unveiled this month.

The two Barton County attractions have been years in the making.

The Raptor Center had its grand opening this weekend. The 6,000-square-foot center is also the entrance to the Great Bend Zoo. Visitors can watch trained staff rehabilitate injured raptors and learn about habitat preservation.

Zoo Director Mike Cargill said injured raptors that come to the center go through a step-by-step process. They are rehabilitated in the center's intensive care unit and then go to a critical care unit outside on the zoo grounds.

After that, they will learn to fly while being carefully observed by inmates from the Larned Correctional Facility. The birds will be sent to "large fly pens" at the correctional facility, and inmates will track and record the raptors' movements, Cargill said.

He said being able to use the inmates works well for the project because they can sit and observe the birds for hours at a time.

The Wetlands Education Center, about 10 miles northeast of the Raptor Center, is dedicated to the conservation of Kansas' vast wetlands, where at least hundreds of animal species seek refuge. The newly constructed, 11,250-square-foot center is a branch of Fort Hays State University's Sternberg Museum. Its grand opening is set for April 24.

The center's groundbreaking was in October 2006, but flooding in the summer of 2007 delayed construction about a year.

Research and work space for four Fort Hays State graduate students will be included in the $3.5 million center. The students will be working with an educator from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

The center also has an auditorium with a massive view of the wetlands, a small library and a lab area.

Exhibits including a timeline of wetlands wildlife from prehistoric times to now, will also be on display at the center.

"The fact we have two premier attractions within this National Scenic Byway is one of the finest ways to showcase nature-based tourism within the entire state of Kansas," said Cris Collier, president of the Great Bend Convention & Visitors Bureau, of the raptor and wetlands centers.

Collier said Kansas already has more wetlands than any other state except Florida, with the state refuge and Nature Conservancy property at Cheyenne Bottoms along the Quivira National Wildlife Refuge.

"The significance of internationally important wetlands in the middle of Kansas is phenomenal," she said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. From http://www.usatoday.com.
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