Happy Isles Nature Center is visited by more than 10,000 families every year, inspiring countless young Yosemite visitors through its engaging and interactive exhibits. Over time, many exhibits have suffered extensive damage from insects and rodents.

In 2015, your support helped fund a project to restore the exhibits. Major elements of the restoration included replacing the taxidermy with sculpted animals that are easier to clean and maintain, and adding interactive panels and displays that let visitors hear animal sounds and learn about threats to wildlife, such as climate change. Visitors will be able to enjoy the enriching new exhibits when the center opens for the 2016 season. This much-needed restoration also created a better home for the popular Junior Ranger program that takes place at Happy Isles.

Your gift helped enhance a high-quality educational experience for children and families visiting Yosemite.

Completed in partnership with Yosemite National Park.

Paul Ollig

Branch Chief of Interpretive Services

Project Notes

While many of the exhibits have been updated in the last decade, the large wildlife diorama has suffered tremendously from insect and rodent infestation and damage. During the summer, the Nature Center is used each day for Junior Ranger programs. However, the center is shuttered all winter. That intermittent care has accelerated the deterioration of the wildlife exhibit, leading to the removal of 25 damaged taxidermied animals.