[Noozhawk’s note: Third in a series sponsored by the Hutton Parker Foundation. Click here for the first article, and click here for the second.]
Updated, state-of-the-art windows depicting scenes of nature that can be found in Santa Barbara County’s backyard greet visitors as they enter the newly refurbished Mammal Hall at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, thanks to a multimillion-dollar improvement campaign.
The museum’s $20 million centennial project was launched in September 2017, with the newly refurbished Mammal and Bird halls opening to the public in June.
A renamed Santa Barbara Gallery, formerly Cartwright Hall, also reopened at that time. The exhibit inside the former Cartwright Hall now focuses on “how geography and climate come together to create the unique ecosystems of the Santa Barbara region.”
Founded in 1916 as the Museum of Comparative Oology — known as the study of bird eggs — the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History officially opened its doors in 1923 in its present location along Mission Creek behind the Santa Barbara Mission, and has continued to grow.
“We wanted to improve the overall experience for the visitor,” Luke Swetland, the museum’s president and chief executive officer, said about the project that grew out of a 2006 master plan for the 17-acre property.
In addition to updating all of the dioramas and exhibits at the museum, which was done in part to inspire visitors to head outside and appreciate all that is around them, work was done to make the property accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which also means strollers are now easily accommodated on the hilly outdoor terrain.
“It’s challenging for people pushing strollers around the property,” Swetland said, noting that since the museum opened in the early 1920s, it continuously has been added to, which requires constant maintenance and funding just like anything else of its nature.
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a private nonprofit facility that operates as a regional research and educational institution and is funded through a variety of sources and private donations. It is operated by a board of directors.
“You have to take care of it … keep it looking fresh and new,” Swetland said about the museum and property. “And there are always projects.”
The museum sits alongside Mission Creek and is the longest stretch of undeveloped land on the creek, with a good portion of the facility outside, where visitors can enjoy a picnic lunch under the canopy of oak trees or stick a shovel in the “paleo” dig, among other activities.
Young visitors are encouraged to engage in nature-based play and learning at the newly renovated base camp, which opened Sept. 22. Access is free with paid admission to the museum.
The area is located just beyond the newly revamped butterfly pavilion and can be accessed via a new ADA-compliant boardwalk that winds through the oak-studded property and along the creek, allowing all visitors to enjoy the entire campus.
“If it’s ADA (accessible), it’s stroller accessible, and opening (the museum) up to that was also important,” said Briana Sapp Tivey, the museum’s director of marketing and communications. The entrance to the museum, located at 2559 Puesta del Sol, now is wider, allowing improved accessibility to the disabled.
At the renovated and newly relocated base camp and nature clubhouse, museum naturalists help kids learn about and discover the area around them through the use of rocks, feathers and other natural objects, as well as live insects, reptiles and more.
“We are very tactile here,” Sapp Tivey said. “We want kids to get dirty, dig in the dirt and not just observe it. We are all about nature and getting into nature.
“It’s OK to get dirty. That is how we learn. Learning is messy.”
The backyard also features an area dubbed the Bio Builders Zone, where visitors can construct forts and create art using natural materials found in the region, a sensory garden and a stage area that allows individuals to put on a show, see a live animal or watch a museum production.
There’s also a place to explore, make mud pies and get messy in the backyard, and a new and improved creek area in the woods offers relaxation, exploration and play for individuals of all ages. The backyard space is designed to be used by everyone, no matter their age.
“This is Santa Barbara’s backyard,” Swetland said.
After nearly a century of housing the region’s natural history — the museum is the keeper of a wealth of Chumash artifacts — the board of directors about 10 years ago began talking about a master plan for the organization that has kept growing. Today, the museum’s collection contains 3.5 million species.
“It goes from ginormous to very small mollusks,” Sapp Tivey said of the museum’s collection, which covers all areas of the region’s natural history.
She added that all of the improvements as part of the centennial project “are the tail end of 10 years worth of effort.”
Of course, that effort takes funding from ordinary donors such as Tory Milazzo and his family, including daughters ages 7 and 5. When he and his wife moved to Santa Barbara in 2008, they didn’t have children, but the museum was always on their radar as a place of interest.
Familiar with the campus and its offerings, Milazzo said it made sense to begin visiting and supporting the facility when his girls were born.
“It was a natural progression when the kids came along,” he said, adding that the biggest draw for his daughters is the museum’s backyard area.
“I don’t think that is something you necessarily get (at other museums) or expect,” he said. “The whole campus is an interactive resource for kids. It’s not a stuffy, old institution.”
The museum has raised $18.7 million of its $20 million goal, which covers all costs associated with the first phase of the master plan, including permitting, Swetland said. He believes that the little more than $1 million that needs to be raised to reach the final goal will be achieved.
“We are confident that will happen in short order,” he said.
Additional renovation plans include repairs and maintenance, including the addition of air conditioning, inside the 80-year-old Fleischman Auditorium, where town hall meetings, wedding receptions and more are held. Swetland said the facelift is needed to allow the space to “continue to be an amazing community resource.”
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Click here for more information about the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, or call 805.682.4711. Click here to make an online donation.
— Noozhawk contributing writer April Charlton can be reached at news@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
