Preliminary soil work begans on Kodiak Refuge Visitor Center site in downtown Kodiak. (08/17/06, T. Shaw)

Construction is underway on the new Kodiak Refuge Visitor Center in downtown Kodiak. General Contractor Blazy Construction, out of Soldotna, Alaska, is leading the project, with Split Rock Studios, of Minnesota, filling the role of exhibit fabricator.

This educational facility will be open to the local and visiting public year-round, with interpretive displays, a film viewing room, map room and multi-purpose public meeting space available for community programming.  The Center will highlight Kodiak Refuge as the crossroads of conservation and education. An intact gray whale skeleton and a commissioned painting by local artist Bruce Nelson will serve as the featured exhibit on the second floor. Nelson's piece will illustrate Kodiak's connection between the land and sea, with his subject of brown bears feeding on a whale carcass along Kodiak's sculpted coastline. This exhibit is part of the Bare Bones Education Project and will be a tandem installation to the main exhibit hall.

Construction and exhibit fabrication are slated to run for 14 months, with the grand opening set for 2007.