Source: Grand Junction Free Press
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Janet Gardner hopes to build a zoo on city-owned, undeveloped property near Interstate 70.
Grand Junction City Council members are open to the idea of a zoo but would prefer to lease Gardner land near the Western Colorado Botanical Gardens where infrastructure already exists.
Building a zoo at Las Colonias, the 100-acre site near the botanical gardens would also bring tourists into the city, where they'd spend money at local restaurants and stores, Mayor Teresa Coons said.
Gardner's preference would be to lease a portion of the 200-acre Matchett Park, near F and 29 Roads and Interstate 70 because of its proximity to the interstate and accessibility to passing tourists. Gardner said she's concerned about the Las Colonias site being in a flood plain, and that it was a former uranium mill site.
“If we had a huge flood who would evacuate the animals and the scientific equipment,” Gardner asked.
Gardner formed the Grand Valley Zoological Quest, a nonprofit with seven board of directors, including herself, with the intention of raising the estimated $16 million needed to build the first phase of the zoo — Rainforests of the World.
Gardner is asking the city to consider leasing four acres of Matchett Park for the first phase, expanding the zoo eventually to 40 acres over a period of decades.
Phase one would include reptiles, snakes, frogs, lizards, parrots, and other tropical species. There could also be small primates, and pygmy hippopotamuses, fresh water fish, and possibly small felines, Gardner said.
The zoo would become home to many rescued parrots and other exotic animals bred in captivity, she said. A series of laws passed between 1972 and 1992, prevent the acquisition of animals from their wild, natural habitat, she added.
Zoos tend to attract a large number of out-of-town visitors and proximity to the interstate would be an important factor in sustaining the business, Gardner said.
Council member Gregg Palmer is concerned that developing the infrastructure at Matchett Park would end up costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
“They're asking for a long-term lease on city property that belongs to the citizens,” Palmer said. “There's no roads, no water, no electricity.”
Palmer said locating a zoo near the botanical gardens would be a compatible interest where infrastructure already exists. Leasing either property would require a citizen vote.
Gardner dreamed of creating a zoo 11 years ago, after meeting Harlin Wall, owner of Wall-to-Wall Reptiles, and also a boardmember of Zoological Quest.
“What we want to build first is a rainforest exhibit,” Gardner said. “It would be an immersion exhibit,” including “live plants that correlate to the animals' natural habitat. There will be natural barriers between the animals and people.”
Gardner also foresees classrooms and laboratories for both adults and children, pet education, and school programs.
Zoos have a positive economic impact on cities, Gardner said.
“The Denver Zoo is the most popular cultural attraction in Colorado,” she said.
Coons is familiar with larger communities like Albuquerque, Denver and San Diego whose zoos are “remarkable” and “great cultural and educational institutions.”
In many cases these types of cultural amenities are supported by a Scientific and Cultural District tax. Taxpayers must agree to a portion of their sales or property tax going toward these public programs, Coons said.
The scientific and cultural tax provides a significant portion of the budgets for Denver's museums, the botanical gardens and zoo, Coons said.
“I think (a zoo) could be a nice amenity and a regional draw,” she said. “But I'm concerned if they can sustain the operation without taxpayer support.”
Palmer said he's also concerned about long-term sustainability.
City staff is in the process of determining what the build-out costs would be for either location, “so everybody is fully informed,” Coons said.
“We don't want to shut the door on it. There are some good, potential benefits. We need to all go into it with our eyes wide open.”
Gardner hopes to build community support.
“We're losing rainforests — and all habitat — at a great rate,” Gardner said. “The best thing zoos can do is education, and promote conservation.”
Gardner, 48, dreamed of working with komodo dragons ever since watching a National Geographic channel at age 10.
The Grand Junction native got her wish in 1990, when she worked on a master's thesis at the Ragunan Zoo in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Gardner has two outdoor and one indoor aviary at her Grand Junction home where she keeps seven parrots, including a 23-year-old yellow-fronted Amazon that came from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. She also has a cat and dog.