Put on your hardhats! Monday, the Santa Barbara Zoo started construction on the new California condor exhibit. We’ve been delayed by permitting issues, now resolved, since our expected start date in October 2007.

I arranged a photo opportunity dedication back then, with members of the Chumash Nation. It was a gloriously sunny day and all the local media turned out to see tribal elder and spiritual leader Adelina Alva-Padilla bless the site by burning sage and waving it heaven-ward with an eagle wing. “Eagle takes messages from the people up to Condor who takes them up to god,” she said.

State Assemblyman Pedro Nava was there, issuing a challenge to the Governor to come to Santa Barbara to sign his bill (AB821) banning the use of lead ammunition in the range of the California condor. (It was enacted the next day in Sacramento). The Ridley-Tree Condor Preservation Act is named for longtime Zoo supporters, the late Paul Ridley-Tree and his wife, Leslie. Paul was a very kind and generous man; a true gentleman. The plaza of our condor exhibit is also named for him.

At that October event, I also met some of our program partners for the first time: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Marc Weitzel, Christopher J. Barr and Richard Posey. We were in high spirits – the exhibit was finally underway! Well… it took four more months, but demolition has started and we are now truly “under construction.” The California Trails complex will feature several endangered species native to the state, specifically the Central Coast – not just condors. We’re also renovating exhibits of Channel Island fox, bald eagle, desert tortoise, and creating a new space for reptiles and amphibians from the Los Padres National Forest. We are removing the playground for the tortoises, as the condors need “quieter neighbors” (a new play area near the Zoo Train opens next month).

Up to six birds will be on view in their hilltop aviary overlooking part of their historic range, the Santa Ynez Mountains. The California Condor Recovery Team will determine which individual birds will come to Santa Barbara, based on the needs of the program. As the population grows, there is a need for long-term housing of birds which, for any number of reasons, cannot be released into the wild. There are no plans for condor breeding at the Santa Barbara Zoo. The exhibit is a little over 6,000 square feet and has 174,000 cubic feet. It is in an area that was not really used to house animals — it has redwood trees and a stream which fills two different pools.

Alan Varsik, our director of animals programs and conservation, tells me that studies in the field show that the birds make use of water. Hopefully, they will here. The exhibit is situated on a steep hillside, enclosed with woven stainless steel mesh. From the top, the public can get close to the birds, should they be perched on that rockwork, and can see inside a rockwork “cave.” Below, a boardwalk offers terrific views of the birds above, of the nearby Andree Clark Bird Refuge and of the distinct mountains. Talk about prime Santa Barbara real estate! They’ll have the best views in town and some room to glide.

We’re all thrilled that condors are coming to our Zoo. They will really help us tell the story of the species in “our own backyards” and, hopefully, inspire our guests to help with the recovery of not only condors, but these other local species. We’ll keep you up to date as construction progresses. It will be about a year, start to finish, before California Trails opens.

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