faqs

What is Earthpark?
Earthpark™ will be an internationally recognized educational resource that provides a grand immersive learning experience unfamiliar to most; one that inspires all generations to learn from the natural world. In addition, Earthpark™ will be a family destination for fun and discovery, a refreshing oasis of learning for the young and old. And finally, and perhaps most important, Earthpark™ will be a center that strives to bring families, communities, and industry together to celebrate and nurture our two most cherished legacies – our children and our environment.

This national learning center will include:

1. Three indoor Amazonian tropical rainforest ecosystems
2. An integrated, multi-level freshwater aquarium
3. A state-of-the-art learning center for science literacy
4. Interactive multi-media galleries with a 4-D virtual reality theatre
   

Why establish an indoor tropical rainforest experience in the center of North America?
Following the great 19th and 20th century traditions of building zoos and aquaria to inspire learning and conservation, Earthpark™ embodies the design and construction of an entirely new class of visitor experience.

Earthpark™ will strive to extend the educational reach of these worthy institutions by integrating plants and animals within three distinct ecosystems that make up the larger rainforest biome within Earthpark™. Rainforest ecosystems are by far the most diverse and complex in the world. They alone contain well over half of all existing species on our planet and they are critical to Earth’s life support; yet even many people who know this find it difficult to understand how the rainforest could possibly personally affect them. Earthpark™ will provide an interactive forum to facilitate learning and to help people understand how important the rainforest and ecological education is to our survival as a species.

Individuals of all ages will find opportunities to see relevance in fundamental ecological principles that move far beyond plant and animal identification. It is our hope that engagement in Earthpark’s biome and state of the art educational platforms will provide individual insights into ways that new ecological understanding can be made part of daily life and that, collectively, the effect of these individual efforts will be positive beyond anyone’s expectations.

The Earthpark™ visitor experience is solidly grounded in science literacy intended to leverage the incredibly vibrant, mysterious and highly endangered Amazonian rainforest as an immersive teaching tool that will inspire people to learn from the natural world.

As a project of the 21st century, Earthpark™ has the potential to become a signature attraction for Iowa and the Midwest and a destination for millions of visitors from across the country and around the world. While this is a bold and groundbreaking vision, Iowa has a long-established national reputation for leadership in educational vision and programming.

Where will Earthpark™ be located?
Earthpark™ will be located in Pella, Iowa, along the northeast shore of Lake Red Rock. Lake Red Rock, Iowa’s largest water body, lies about 45 minutes from Des Moines, the state Capital. Earthpark™ will serve as a powerful magnet, drawing from the 37 million residents who live within a day's drive of Iowa and the more than 7 million passenger vehicles that travel through Iowa every year.

What kind of plants and animals will Earthpark™ feature?
Earthpark™ will contain more than 1,000 species of plants, animals, birds, fish and reptiles. Living plants, such as the Acai Palm, the Itauba, and the rubber tree will help form a complex rainforest canopy, viewable at multiple levels from dense, winding pathways to aerial catwalks more than 100 feet above the forest floor.

Colorful birds, such as the blue and yellow macaw, the white-winged swallow and the screaming piha, will add to the sights and sounds of the visitor experience as they take up residence in the trees, river banks, and dense foliage of the deep jungle. Meanwhile, Earthpark's Amazon waters will be stocked with aracu, electric eels, freshwater sting rays, and even several species of piranha.

The animal residents of Earthpark™ may include such wonders as the three-toed sloth, giant otters, spectacled yellow caiman, ghost bats and red howler monkeys. Reptiles and amphibians will also be plentiful with snakes, such as the boa constrictor, many species of frogs and lizards, such as the chameleon and iguana.

Leading experts in the field of animal husbandry and horticulture will design and maintain Earthpark’s exhibits. Iowa's leading universities and colleges will partner with Earthpark™ to maintain and enhance the facility's collections.

How much will Earthpark™ cost to build and operate?
The cost to design and build Earthpark™ will be approximately $140 million, not including land, which will be donated. It is expected that project start-up costs could total up to $15 million.

After the initial attendance surge that accompanies most new attractions, Earthpark™ is expected to generate annual revenues of $19 million with an annual operating budget of $17 million including reserves for replacement.

Who will pay for Earthpark™?
The planning and construction budget for Earthpark™ will come from a variety of public and private sources. The U.S. Department of Energy has granted $50 million in assistance to support all aspects of the program.

A local public/private partnership is developing a $300 million “green” master planned destination ‘live, work and play’ community. This partnership will provide at least $25 million toward project financing. Additional funding may come from corporate, foundation and individual sources, as well as the State of Iowa.

Local community support has been overwhelming and a 50-member Regional Advisory Committee has been formed to obtain input and support from the communities of Pella, Knoxville, Indianola, Grinnell and Newton, among others.

Earthpark™ has received past and ongoing operations support from Des Moines businessman and project founder, Ted Townsend. Mr. Townsend is the founder of the nationally recognized Great Ape Trust of Iowa.

Who manages Earthpark™ and the design process?
Earthpark™ is governed by a 17-member board of directors that includes state and national leaders from business, education, science, and the arts and conservation. The Chairman of the board is former Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray. Earthpark's Executive Director is David Oman of Des Moines.

Earthpark™ has a world-class design team with years of experience designing and building multi-million dollar projects. Kajima Urban Development (KUD), a subsidiary of Kajima Corporation of Japan, is the project's development manager, responsible for delivering the project on-time and on-budget.

The design team is led by Grimshaw Architects, designers of the Eden Project. The extended team includes respected companies such as RDG Design, the Iowa-based associate architectural firm, and other structural, engineering and material experts, specialized exhibit designers and horticulturists.

Earthpark™ has engaged education design and science teams to steer development of programming for its proposed world-class learning center.

What will be the economic impact of Earthpark™?
Several comprehensive market and feasibility studies have been conducted on the project over the past several years. However, the market study completed by CH Johnson Consulting (March 2007) is the most comprehensive to date. It closely evaluated the economic impact of locating Earthpark™ at The Point on Lake Red Rock with a new 350-room hotel and indoor/outdoor waterpark, 120 condominiums, a new 150-slip marina, a 5,000 person outdoor performing arts amphitheatre and 50,000 square feet of retail space.

CH Johnson Consulting and Integra Realty Resources of Chicago, IL estimated that the $300 million in new investment at Lake Red Rock will result in approximately $142 million annually in total visitor spending statewide. This destination resort complex will create a ripple effect of more than 1,200 one-time construction jobs and approximately 4,000 permanent full-time and part-time jobs throughout the region, 750 within the district itself.

CH Johnson clients include state and local government agencies, real estate developers, sports franchise owners and teams, contractors, CVB’s, universities, fairgrounds, lenders, and investment bankers. Johnson Consulting serves clients in North America, South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Asia. In Iowa, Johnson Consulting provided economic analysis for the Iowa Speedway in Newton, and for the Marriott Hotel in Coralville.

How many visitors do you expect and on what do you base your figures?
CH Johnson estimates stable year attendance at Earthpark™ of 800,000 with up to one million visitors expected to visit The Point Development District, along the northeastern shore of Lake Red Rock.

Earthpark™ will draw 70% of its annual visitors from out-of-state. Three quarters of Earthpark’s visitation will occur between May and October. Visitors will generate approximately 200,000 room nights annually, 117,000 of which will be located offsite in the Marion County area and throughout the state.

CH Johnson’s visitation estimates were based on several factors, including:

1. Comparable attractions, such as the Eden Project in Cornwall, England and various zoos and aquaria located throughout the United States
2. Demographic characteristics of the resident market population
3. Local and state tourist market profile, including synergies with seasonal events and activities in the five county region
4. Earthpark's program characteristics, scale and scope

One of Earthpark’s most direct market comparables is the Eden Project. Located five hours from London in one of England's most rural areas, attendance has far exceeded expectations. Approximately 500,000 visitors toured the site while it was under construction. 1.8 million people visited Eden Project in 2001 its first year of operation. Five years later, the stable-year attendance is 1.2 million.

How many people will Earthpark™ employ and at what salary levels?
It is anticipated that Earthpark™ will have a full-time equivalent staff of approximately 170, not including volunteer positions and internship opportunities. The average salary will approach $40,000.

How much energy and water will Earthpark™ consume?
Using leading green design concepts by Grimshaw, high-efficiency, energy saving materials such as ETFE foil made by DuPont and others, and leading automation and climate control technologies by Siemens, Earthpark™ will utilize about one-quarter to one-half the energy of a major national aquarium on an equivalent area basis.

In addition, the facility’s rugged, high-transparency, three-layer ETFE-foil roof will have super insulating properties that will be used to help regulate the rain forest environment during Iowa’s varied seasons.

Meanwhile, Earthpark™ will use a mix of alternative and renewable energy systems to help power and run the facility: wind, geothermal, biomass and solar energies are all possibilities. Depending on site location and partner needs, additional energy savings may be possible by using lower cost alternative fuels grown here in Iowa and more efficiently distributed energy generation and storage techniques.

A complex water collection system will recapture up to one-third of annual on-site precipitation. A rooftop collection system will yield about 600 gallons per 1,000 sq.ft. of roof for each inch of rainfall - cleansed and recycled through an external water purification system. The collection system will be an important source of water for non-potable uses on site, including Earthpark’s mission critical aquarium.

Within the masterplanned area, Earthpark™ and its development partners will utilize state-of-the-art storm water collection and detention systems to help minimize any negative hydrologic impacts on the environment. These systems will be an integral part of the Earthpark™ story.

What are the educational opportunities at Earthpark™?
The integration of an environmental experience, interactive Iowa-focused exhibit galleries, an innovative learning center, a teacher training center and research institute is unprecedented and has the potential to be a pioneering model of global importance.

The proposed learning center, contained within the project, will be a collaborative resource for educators, researchers, students and other learners at all levels. Earthpark™ will use nature and the environment as its “primary textbook,” and leverage the tropical rainforest biomes, its core science programming, virtual reality technology and outdoor exhibits to create 21st century educational programming that transcends blackboards and textbooks.

Specific information on programs and classes is under development and will become available as Earthpark™ nears completion.

What will be the role of colleges and universities?
Earthpark™ foresees a long-term partnership with the administration, faculty, researchers, staff and students of several Iowa colleges and universities. There will be many opportunities for these and other institutions to be part of educational and corporate programs, on-site research, internships and so on.

What is the project's timeline?
Schematic design and construction planning will be completed in 2008 along with site work and the beginning of construction. Earthpark™ is scheduled to open in 2011.

Where can I get more information?
Earthpark’s website, www.Earthpark.org provides the most comprehensive source of information for the public. Additional questions may be directed to Earthpark™ using the website feedback form or by calling 515-243-9300.