2009 - USDA Forest Service

January 2009 Interpretation and Conservation Education Master Plan
Product Recommendations
The following are titles, descriptions, justifications and cost estimates for
products and projects proposed and recommended within this ICE Master
Plan.
El Portal Rain Forest Center
El Portal opened its doors in June of 1996 to rave reviews. The building
won the prestigious URBE Design Award, given by the Association of
Architects and Landscape Architects of Puerto Rico for tropical design
architecture. It also won a prize for tropical landscaping design of the year
from the US Landscape Architects Association. The exhibit designers were
an integral part of the multidisciplinary core team that developed the
project. The interpretive exhibits were developed following an overall
theme and three sub-themes, and specific stated design goals and
objectives. The exhibits offer a coordinated color scheme and design and
blend well with the main features of the facility. The building is totally open
with no permanent walls, only adjustable enclosures; giving visitors a sense
of the surrounding forest while they are viewing the exhibits. All exhibits
were constructed as “outdoor” exhibits to prevent deterioration from
exposure to the elements. Despite eleven years of tropical weather
(including two major hurricanes) the El Portal exhibits still “look good.”
However, the content of some of the exhibits and the introductory film
references are dated, and thus obsolescent. Replacement of all exhibits is
overdue. A new interpretive prospectus, exhibit design plan and site plan
for El Portal that focuses on such vital local issues as the potentially
hazardous effects of climate change on the world, our island and the
forest’s biodiverse ecology, should tier directly with this ICE Master Plan. A
totally new introductory film is already in production and should be available
in early FY 09. Cost for design, construction and installation of all new
exhibits is estimated at somewhere between four to five million dollars at
today’s rates.
The Unique Puerto Rican Parrot
Visitors to this self-guided, descriptive nature trail will discover first-hand
how one of the world’s most endangered birds, and the sole remaining
parrot species in the U.S. or its territories, was at the brink of extinction
when a dedicated group of scientists and workers from federal and state
agencies banded together to begin a coordinated species recovery
program. By viewing easily understood, graphically illustrated signs that
describe in detail the intricate construction and careful tending of special
parrot habitat structures, visitors will become intimate with the intriguing
61 El Yunque National Forest
Puerto Rican Parrot Pair