Ochsner Park Zoo River Otter Exhibit
Project Scope: North American river otter exhibit
Location: Baraboo, Wisconsin
Designer: Mente Engineering
While Friede & Associates does most of its work for two-legged creatures, some of our most unique design-build projects are built for our four-legged friends. In fact, we recently broke ground on construction on a brand new North American River Otter Exhibit for Ochsner Park Zoo in Baraboo, Wisconsin.
Our longstanding relationship with Ochsner Park and The Friends of the Baraboo Zoo spans 15 years. During that time, our work has included the construction of two other specialty animal habitats: the Black Bear Exhibit in 2002 and the Lynx Exhibit in 2012. The upcoming otter showcase will be located near the bear exhibit. While all animal exhibits have water features, this project will require a largely aquatic environment for the otters.
We were pleased when the Baraboo Parks Commission and the Baraboo City Council voted unanimously to authorize city officials to draft a contract with Friede & Associates and our design partner Mente Engineering to head up the much-anticipated river otter exhibit. Rather than navigate another time-consuming bidding process, the city and the Friends of the Baraboo Zoo chose our firm to build the exciting, new exhibit. For this design-build project, Friede and Ochsner staff are working together to guarantee that specific exhibit needs are met while ensuring the project meets the budget, schedule, and quality standards our client requires.
Zoo visitors will find the otters delightful to watch. Extremely social animals, otters engage in play in groups of adult females and pups, and batches of adult males. Their energetic lifestyle requires them to eat often; the high-metabolism otters eat a variety of fish, frogs, and small reptiles, as well as various aquatic plants.
Friede & Associates is pleased to be working on this fun, new project and appreciates the trust our longtime client has placed in us to help expand the Ochsner Zoo. We can’t wait for you to see the new exhibit…and be sure to bring your significant otter!
This project was recognized by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of Wisconsin as a 2018 Silver Project of Distinction.