Tracy Aviary’s riverside expansion project underway with hopes to get west-siders engaged with nature

South Salt Lake • As construction workers focused on building a wetland habitat, lesser goldfinches fluttered around feeders at the Tracy Aviary’s riverside property in South Salt Lake a recent morning.

While migrating birds make their way north from their winter homes, the aviary’s Jordan River Nature Center, which will soon be renamed the Nature Center at Pia Okwai in a nod to the river’s Indigenous name, is in the midst of an estimated $18 million expansion.

The goal is to better connect the Salt Lake Valley’s more diverse and international west side with nature, wildlife and the river.

“The hummingbirds will be here any day now,” said Daniel Hernandez, director of culture for the center. “The phalarope goes all the way to Argentina. Birds connect us to the rest of the world.”

And it’s not just birds that are visiting the center and the river next door. Hernandez reported seeing burrowing beavers and bounding deer.

The Tracy Aviary created the center in 2020, seeking to get more west-siders involved with its programming that, at the time, was based at its Liberty Park campus in Salt Lake City. Since then, the center has hosted a variety of community events from nature walks to Earth Day celebrations. And it has now opened a host of new amenities on the 12-acre property, even as construction and planning for more additions are still underway.

The most prominent building is the three-story observation tower in the center of the property. From the top deck, visitors can see from the canyons of the Wasatch Mountains down to a now-swift Jordan River fueled in part by the range’s melting snowpack.

The tiptop of the building will also help scientists track migrating birds and bugs with the addition of a Motus tower, part of a global network of radio telemetry devices that track animals as they fly by on their seasonal journeys.

Down on the first floor, a large bird blind isn’t just a space to view flying friends through glass. The center has also already used the space for writing workshops in partnership with the Community Writing Center and hosted a read-a-thon.

Other new construction includes a pavilion and an amphitheater. Center Director Marissa Beckstrom said she wants people to make personal connections with the property and explore all of the community spaces it has to offer, not just come to bird-watch.

A new conservation garden loop is tucked behind a constructed berm to separate it, and most of the property, from loud traffic on 3300 South. The short natural path showcases drought-resistant plants that residents can seed themselves.

“We want to show people what they can do in their own spaces,” Beckstrom said. “We also want to show how to be respectful [of nature].”

Planting efforts are ongoing. For now, the plants are few and far between as they take time to put down roots. Over the next couple of years, though, the property will become more lush as the vegetation grows.

A group of Native American students from Granite School District called Li’l Feathers, which performed at the center’s Earth Day celebration last year, has also helped with planting on the property.

“The most prominent thing I hear from the kids is being able to be outside and not having any limitations to their excitement,” said Rhonda “Honey” DuVall, lead facilitator of Li’l Feathers. “A lot of our kids are full of energy and having an outside opportunity is really pleasing for the families.”

The center is building specific areas for children to discover and play in nature, too. Beckstrom anticipates a planned “mud kitchen,” a play area where kids can get their hands dirty, will be a big hit with young visitors (but maybe not with parents).

Along with the incoming mud, the wetland habitat under construction will have a pond and a stream. The center has also hired the Lost Eden Gallery to paint a mural on one of its perimeter walls.

“We’re responding to heat islands on the west side,” Hernandez said. “We want this to be a cool spot in multiple ways.”

There’s still more to come at the property, too. Aviary officials are also designing a learning lab and a visitor center. Beckstrom said she doesn’t have a timeline for when those elements will be built because fundraising efforts are ongoing.