Discovery Park of America (DPA) announced recently that an exhibit dedicated to telling the story of waterfowl hunting, conservation, and the ecosystem of the Mississippi flyway is currently being developed. “Duck, Duck, Goose: Waterfowl of the Mississippi Flyway” will open at the museum and heritage park in 2023.
Ducks Unlimited (DU), the world’s leader in wetlands and waterfowl conservation, is the premier sponsor of the exhibit. Other partners in the exhibit include TWRA, Five Oaks Lodge, Final Flight Outfitters, First Choice Farm and Lawn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Robert E. and Jenny D. Kirkland Foundation. Additional partners will be announced soon.
“This new, permanent exhibit will use a combination of stories, three-dimensional objects, interactive elements, and hands-on experiences,” said Scott Williams, DPA’s president and CEO. “While some of our guests who encounter this exhibit will be well acquainted with waterfowl hunting and conservation, many others will be exposed to those topics for the first time.”
Solid Light, a leader in the exhibit design and fabrication field based in Louisville, Ky., has been selected to head the project. Solid Light also worked with DPA on the recently opened exhibit “AgriCulture: Innovating for Our Survival.”
Cynthia Torp, Solid Light’s owner and CEO, and her team already have been working alongside the DPA exhibits professionals on the project for more than a year. They’ve also been working closely with experts at DU throughout this research phase.
“With the museum’s location in the heart of the Mississippi flyway and their unique mission of inspiring their visitors to explore the world around them, DPA is in the perfect place to tell this story,” Torp said. “I can’t imagine a better partner for this exhibit than DU.”
DU was founded in 1937 during the Dust Bowl when North America’s drought-plagued waterfowl populations had plunged to unprecedented lows. A small group of sportsmen joined together to form an organization that became known as DU.
“As the world’s largest private waterfowl and wetlands conservation organization, our impact comes through a series of partnerships with private individuals, landowners, agencies, scientific communities, and others like DPA,” said George Dunklin, a DU board member. “We’re thrilled to be able to apply our expertise on wetlands conservation to help tell these stories to DPA visitors who will experience the exhibit in coming years.”
Another partner, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is partnering with the museum to host the upcoming Tennessee Junior Duck Stamp Award Ceremony in April, 2023. A variety of programs are being planned, such as Junior Duck Stamp Camp on DPA’s STEAM Saturday, which can be enjoyed by anyone in grades K-12 interested in participating in the contest.
The Junior Duck Stamp program is a dynamic art- and science-based curriculum that teaches wetland and waterfowl conservation to students in kindergarten through high school. The program encourages students to learn about waterfowl and their habitats and express what they have learned through an art contest.
Although research and development for the exhibit is still underway, the initial direction has been determined by focus groups with content experts including waterfowl hunters, educators in the fields of conservation and wildlife, and published reports and papers on the topic.
Those interested in partnering with DPA on the “Duck, Duck, Goose: Waterfowl of the Mississippi Flyway” exhibit should contact Mary Bondurant at 731-885-5455 or [email protected].
Located at 830 Everett Blvd. in Union City, DPA is open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. each Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday, and from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call 731-885-5455 or visit the park’s website at www.discoveryparkofamerica.com. The park is about a 1.5 hour drive from Camden.
