FARMINGTON—The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center (EWEC) is known as a serene, birdwatching spot nestled in the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area.
The center opened in 2018 and offers an educational experience in addition to the many species of birds. Friday, June 13, the center opened a new viewing platform and the Hasenyager Legacy Trail that will enhance the bird-watching experience for the public.
“This is just a wonderful treasure,” said Faith Heaton Jolley, Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) Public Information Officer. “It’s for residents here along the Wasatch Front and also for bird watchers across the Nation.”
“We sit on the Great Salt Lake ecosystem,” said DWR EWEC Manger, Ashley Kijowski. “Over 12 million birds visit the Great Salt Lake ecosystem annually. It’s such an important spot in the Pacific Flyway. You can think of it as an oasis in the desert."
These birds are migrating from South America, Mexico all the way up to Alaska and the Great Salt Lake sits right in the middle, she said. “So it’s a super important stopover habitat for a lot of birds, as well as a lot of birds like to nest here.”
Kijowski said every day when she comes out here she is amazed at all of the different birds. “It’s so beautiful and peaceful and that’s why we want to get people out here to experience the habitat and the different wildlife you can see.”
“We lived up in the foothills of Farmington,” said Marlene Hasenyager whose late husband Bob Hasenyager was a catalyst in helping get some of the amenities and the facility there. “We could look out and see Farmington Bay. I think his vision for this place probably started about 48 years ago when his dad from Illinois would come and go duck hunting out here with his two sons every year in October for his birthday.”
That’s probably when Bob really grew to love it out here, she said. “He especially wanted kids to come here to experience nature and to appreciate the Great Salt Lake ecosystem.”
He wanted future generations to know that nature needs to be protected and appreciated, said Hasenyager. “He saw this place, just minutes from downtown Farmington as a vehicle for doing that and so he went to work to make it happen.”
The first vision Bob had was to have some type of building out here, she said. “I was the CTE coordinator at Viewmont High School at the time and we had a construction tech program where the students would learn to build houses and would build the portable classrooms that you see around some of the schools in Davis School District.”
Bob got an idea about using the students to build a couple of portable classrooms that he could take out to Farmington Bay for people to come and learn about this area, Hasenyager said. “He went to the District CTE director at the time and pitched his plan. And a collaboration was born.”
The first nature center out here consisted of two portable classrooms that were built piece by piece by the construction students from Viewmont High School, she said. “The next step in his vision was to get a road and a parking lot for the nature center so he approached the county and said, ‘I need a road out to my nature center and I need an area leveled off for these portable classrooms.’”
His vision didn’t stop there, he wanted a boardwalk so that children could come and visit without getting their feet wet or muddy, Hasenyager said. “You’ve heard of the house that Jack built – well this is the boardwalk that Bob built.”
Bob had help from the community and Eagle Scouts came out and did their projects, she said. “City leaders came out and helped and lots of DWR people helped. But I can tell you that he was out here every day after work, every Saturday and even a few Sundays working to get this completed.”
Bob’s vision was fulfilled by the completion of this beautiful nature center, said Hasenyager. “It’s built on the same spot that the original portable classrooms were and his dream was realized.”
The center is located at 1157 S. Waterfowl Way in Farmington.
