Visitor center nears completion at Prime Hook

The visitor center and offices at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge are hot in the summer and cold in the winter – the geothermal system never worked right.

The water in the building is acidic but it is safe to drink. There is a lot of wasted space in three buildings clustered on the site, one of them dating back to a dairy that once stood on the property. The main building, constructed in 1996, is showing its age.

Those problems will all end soon when the outdated buildings are replaced by a single 2,000-square-foot structure more than a mile away, near the refuge entrance on Turkle Pond Road.

“It’s going to be nice,” said Refuge Manager Chance Davis, sitting in his office, a deer head mounted on the wall behind him peeking over his left shoulder as he explained the problems with the current buildings.

“This building is too big for our staff,” Davis said Dec. 3. “We’re excited about the new building.”

No date has been scheduled, but the opening is expected early next month, said Project Leader Kate Toniolo, who oversees Prime Hook and Bombay Hook wildlife refuges for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

On the afternoon of Dec. 2, a few workers wearing white helmets and yellow vests installed lights along the sidewalks while another drove a small bulldozer as he spread soil to finish grading the site of the nearly complete visitor contact station.

The concrete sidewalks were recently poured and the asphalt driveway laid.

The $3.7 million project at Prime Hook is similar to another underway at Bombay Hook. Both projects are being paid for with federal Great American Outdoors Act money and federal highway funds, Toniolo said.

Work began more than a year ago, pausing while the foundation was repoured after initial problems, Toniolo said.

“Since that, the construction has been going gangbusters,” she said. “We’re getting down to the end.”

The main building containing the visitors center, staff offices and displays, as well as a shed and old office trailer used for storage, will be removed after the new structure is complete, Toniolo said.

The design of the new building is part of a federal movement for parks projects that emphasizes reducing the size of buildings, she said.

“It’s a little smaller,” Toniolo said. “We’ll be reducing our footprint. We have something called ‘Freeze the Footprint.’”

The new building will have a small office for staff, a bookstore and shop operated by the Friends of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge, and a multipurpose room for meetings and interpretive displays. Visitors can pick up maps and find information about programs offered at the refuge.

“I think it will be a nice place for the Friends to continue the activities we provide,” said Bill Pritchett, vice president of the group, who will become its president Jan. 1. The nonprofit group raises funds to support programs at the refuge and assists visitors.

“That building is really first-class,” said Pritchett, who said he is retired from a career overseeing construction of luxury homes. “Everything, to me, is top shelf.”

There will also be a large patio for outdoor meetings and for visitors to enjoy the natural surroundings, Toniolo said.

There are plans to extend a trail to connect the visitor center to the rest of the trails, but that probably won’t be done until summer at the earliest.

The building will be constructed to standards that promote efficiency and conservation, including solar power, and windows and doors that have reflective coatings to discourage bird strikes.

“We can’t wait to open it and welcome visitors,” Toniolo said. “It’s going to be a beautiful building and serve the American people well.”