This family-friendly exhibit starts with an open entry space and watershed play area. Here, children can explore a real watershed and investigate the salmon images in the walkway beneath their feet. Overhead is a tumble of logs that creates a shelter over the “streambed” walkway, while clear walls on either side give visitors an intimate view into the underwater life of salmon and otters.
These above-ground tanks enable visitors to see otters playing on one side, and on the other view salmon feeding, guarding a redd (nest), and perhaps even a salmon carcass from the other side of the tank – all demonstrating the important role salmon play in human, animal, and forest life on the North Coast. The entire exhibit is a living example of a healthy watershed, where visitors can learn how everything is interconnected – and how they can help protect this fragile environment.
At the far end of the exhibit in the McLean Foundation Raptor Aviary, visitors encounter a pair of Bald eagles sharing their home with a pair of ravens, as well as long-time residents Winky, the Northern spotted owl and Dorsie, the North American porcupine. This exhibit provides a permanent home for injured birds that can no longer fly, within a natural setting on the edge of the redwood forest. A magnificent redwood tree inside the aviary serves as a focal point where visitors can step inside their habitat for close-up views of these magnificent birds and to get a sense of what their life in the forest is like.
One of the two ravens 
Dorsie, the North American porcupine 
Winky, the Northern spotted owl 
One of the two bald eagles 
Coho salmon
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