The Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council hosted a presentation by California Living Museum Zoo Senior Director Megan Maitland, who talked about her institution's history, purpose and the massive expansion planned for the next two decades.

Maitland said the zoo, started in 1983 by educator Michael Hopkins, has always been an organization rooted in education, and since operations were taken over by the office of the Kern County Superintendent of Schools in 1995, has been focused on getting students out of the classroom to learn about wildlife.

She said the zoo focuses on the wildlife of California, particularly endangered species, and the animals and staff at the zoo help cultivate interest in the well-being of the state's ecosystem.

"Our state is amazing and we want to make sure kids that are our community understand the amazing wildlife we have in our own backyard and gain an appreciation for that," she said.

Maitland said the zoo is family-focused, and is a resource for home-schooled children.

She said the zoo is devoted to the the welfare of native animals, providing them with care through their wildlife rehabilitation program.

The program, Maitland said, releases animals back into the wild whenever possible, as removing perfectly healthy and thriving animals from their habitats is strictly against their philosophy. But when an animal in need of care is no longer able to make it in the wild, they continue to care for them.

She said these animal ambassadors help inspire their visitors to protect wildlife, especially those animals whose species are under threat.

She said they get 25,000 students a year through field trips and other programs, as well as more than 100,000 general visitors.

In addition to their education efforts, she said, the organization's care facilities were recently expanded and CALM is now the state's first inland oil spill facility, able to quickly help animals affected by oil spills without having to get them to a coast-based care center.

An ambitious master plan details a 20-year vision

Indeed, the zoo has created a master plan to further enhance its wildlife care, modernize facilities, improve guest experiences, and generally expand, Maitland said. They have 67 acres to use for that expansion.

Maitland gave a presentation to the crowd on the master plan, the first phase of which would include a new entry plaza with a café, along with a new gift store and administration building, as well as an education hub where the current gift store is located.

The plan also incorporates animal welfare improvement with new holding units, a support building and rehabilitation habitats, including for animals that require extreme heat.

Maitland said the zoo believes strongly in transparency and wants to give tours of their rehabilitation operations, as well as provide housing for interns, which is in the plan as well.

The zoo's legacy campus would get new features as well, including a central promenade, a new woodland trail and an expansion of their waterfowl habitats.

Maitland said the zoo used to do more work with birds and mammals and with this plan they would get the infrastructure to do that again.

She said they would also have new areas for wolves and grizzly bears, and an expansion of their California Condor area, all in their western area.

That area would also include an event pavilion and botanical garden.

Maitland said the plan also includes an entirely new meadow habitat that will support elk, bison and pronghorns.

She said full implementation of this plan will take place in phases over the next 20 years.

A call for support

Maitland said the zoo is committed to the goals of supporting wildlife and helping people understand and appreciate that wildlife, and any support that they can get is valuable, whether that's visiting, joining as a member, volunteering, donating or spreading the word about them and their mission.

She said the zoo's largest fundraiser of the year, the extremely popular CALM Zoo HolidayLights show, will begin later this month, and they now have a wedding and event venue that supports the zoo, and is a tax write-off.

After the presentation a number of audience members sung the organization's praises, not just from the perspective of visitors but as people who have seen them care for animals in need.

Other business

A number of other issues of local importance mentioned at the meeting include:

Kern County Second District 2 Supervisor Chris Parlier's Field Representative Karen Sanders said exemptions from county taxes for the solar industry are sunsetting next year, which will benefit the economy and the local government to provide more services.Tehachapi Mountain Wine Growers' Commission President Mike Van Atta said last month's inaugural Harvest Festival was incredibly successful and they are considering making it two days instead of one next year.Tehachapi Tourism Commission President Chris Scotti said the Visit Tehachapi website continues to see increased traffic, but the Tehachapi Visitor Center is still in need of volunteers, particularly young ones.

See additional coverage of these issues in future editions of Tehachapi News.