SCHUMER VISITS WILD CENTER AFTER DELIVERING $466,000 IN FED FUNDING TO BUILD NEW OUTDOOR EXHIBIT
WILD Center’s New “Wild Encounters Trail” Will Build & Upgrade 16 Outdoor Habitats, Increasing Visitor Access To Native Animal Species In Franklin County For Major Tourism Driver
Schumer In 2023 Toured WILD Center And Pledged To Deliver Fed $$ To Support WILD Center’s World-Class Collection And Now A Promise Made Is Promise Kept!
Schumer: New Outdoor Exhibit Will Be Win-Win For WILD Center & North Country Community
U.S. Senator Schumer today stood at the WILD Center and celebrated $466,000 in federal funding he delivered for the WILD Center’s new outdoor exhibit. Two years ago, Schumer toured the facility and promised to deliver federal support for the Center’s programming.
“No visit to the Adirondacks is complete without a stop at the WILD Center. Twenty-five years ago this week, I first met with Betsy Lowe to talk about her vision for what would become the WILD Center. Since then, I have returned time and time again, both for official visits and with my family. It’s a wonderful place,” said Senator Schumer. “I have been proud to secure federal funding for the museum several times over the years and am so pleased to help on this most recent effort to enhance and expand these beloved exhibits. It’s one of the most popular attractions at the WILD Center, and my grandson still talks about the otters he saw here when we brought him a few years ago.”
People come from across the world – all 50 states and over 20 countries – every year to visit the WILD Center and see its animal collection. The WILD Center’s new “Wild Encounters Trail” will contain 16 outdoor habitats, increasing visitor access to popular native animal species. This new outdoor exhibit will boost the North Country’s economy will providing an area for schools to teach and government agencies to train. For example, the Center plans to welcome local K-12 students to learn about animals, college art students to use animals as subjects, and local veterinary students to study the collection more easily. In addition, government agencies will be able to use the facility for staff training.
Nearly two years ago to the week, Schumer visited the WILD Center, learned about their expansion plans, and promised to support them. Today, after pledging to fight for federal funding for the Center, Schumer announced he has secured $466,000 in the recently-passed Fiscal Year 2026 Agriculture-Rural Development budget bill for the Center’s initiative.
Schumer met with Betsy Lowe at the Wawbeek Inn on November 22, 2000, where he first learned of Betsy’s vision for a natural history museum of the Adirondacks. In the years following, Schumer worked with former Rep. John McHugh to secure $340,000 in federal funding, which served as important seed funding to help kick-start the effort. Schumer attended the groundbreaking ceremony in 2004 and has returned many times over the years, both on his official visits to Franklin County and with his family when they have vacationed in the Adirondacks. Schumer has helped the WILD Center secure numerous federal grants over the years, including $570,020 from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, which he wrote during the pandemic to help closed museums and theaters stay afloat.
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