Out and About

A Family-Friendly Museum Makeover
The World Forestry Center Discovery Museum Goes Hands-On
by Emily Puro

I thought I knew all of the local family attractions. I thought my family and I had seen it all, done it all, enjoyed it all and gone back for more, but until recently, we’d never been to the World Forestry Center’s Discovery Museum.

To tell the truth, the big wooden building across the parking lot from the Oregon Zoo and the Children’s Museum never struck me as a kid-friendly kind of place, and until six months ago, it really wasn’t. But after a $7.5 million renovation and a grand reopening this summer, I’m pleased to report there’s a new game in town when it comes to family-friendly entertainment and education.

New and Improved Exhibits
While the Discovery Museum’s familiar log cabin façade remains, everything on the inside is brand new and, considering that it hadn’t been renovated since opening in 1971, that means big changes. “Museums of the past were very hands off,” says World Forestry Center marketing director Jennifer Kent, “things behind glass; don’t touch.” The Discovery Museum was no exception. “We had the very popular talking tree,” she says, “but it was still 1970s technology. It wasn’t hands on. It was something that you listened to.” The talking tree is gone, but in its place you’ll find over 100 new exhibits to engage the whole family. “We went from being a static museum where you just looked and you didn’t interact,” says Kent, “to a museum of today which is very hands on.”

The new museum takes on the daunting task of demonstrating in an engaging, kid-friendly way just how vital forests are in our lives. And while education is clearly at the heart of every exhibit, the designers have done a great job of combining hands-on activities, high-tech gadgetry, and visually pleasing displays to appeal to visitors of every age group. Older children and adults have ample opportunity to learn about the impact of forests in their daily lives, the effects of humans on forests and forestry, and the importance of sustainable forest practices for our future. Younger kids can touch, crawl, climb and explore throughout.

Discovering Our Forests
The permanent exhibits on the museum’s main floor center around three major themes: Living From the Forest, showing how we use forests and wood products in our daily lives; Change in the Forest, illustrating the natural and societal forces that shape forests for better or for worse; and Exploring the Forest, celebrating the pleasures of forest-based recreation. In each area you’ll find simple hands-on activities for young children, such as fitting rectangular boards on a round log, planting trees, climbing aboard a full-size harvester, and crawling through a hollow log teeming with forest life. Older kids will enjoy the more technologically-advanced activities such as operating a simulated harvester, strapping into a smoke jumper’s harness and navigating toward a target, and riding a chair lift up to the forest canopy. The whole family can pose for an “action” photo aboard a river raft and watch an informative video in the cozy theater. If you take the time to read the wealth of informative text displayed throughout the exhibits, you’ll likely enjoy lively conversations with your kids about how they perceive forests and the wildlife within, and how very different life would be without them.

While the main floor is literally packed with information and exhibits, the open floor plan keeps the atmosphere airy and uncluttered. By the time you reach the second floor you might be ready to take a breather. As luck would have it (or is it good design?), the upstairs exhibits offer several chances to sit a spell in style. Billed as “Global Forest Stories,” several short videos play on the second floor, all in imaginative and culturally-appropriate settings. You can grab a seat in the dining car of a trans-Siberian train to learn about the forests of Eastern Europe, relax aboard a Chinese river boat as you explore Asian forests, drive a jeep through the sub-tropical safari show, and climb inside a crane to explore the forest canopy. There’s also a wonderful display of products from the world’s forests, including toys, musical instruments, masks, cooking utensils, spices and a lively marionette. The second floor is also home to the museum’s temporary exhibit, currently a breath-taking collection of nature photographs captured by Oregon’s Steve Terrill.

The highlights of our visit for my 5-year-old son were the harvester simulator and the smoker jumper game. We were fortunate to be among a handful of visitors on a weekday afternoon, so we had several chances to hone our skills at what proved to be two challenging exhibits. For me, the best part was escaping for a few hours into the giant wooded den, complete with realistic sounds of the forest, and getting a powerful
refresher course in the importance of trees in our lives and our future.

A New Indoor Option
The exhibits are so packed with content, you can find something new with every visit, and return trips will reinforce the crucial lessons the museum strives to teach. “What we’re finding from the comment cards is that people really are getting the messages that we’re trying to convey,” says Kent, “how important trees and forests are in our lives and all the different uses that we have for them.”

Visitors seem to be having fun, too. “Memberships are just flying out the window because people so want to come back,” says Kent. Are you kidding? A new, family-friendly, entertaining and educational attraction in Portland? It’s a local parent’s dream come true.

If You Go:

World Forestry Center Discovery Museum, 4033 SW Canyon Road; 503-228-1367; www.worldforestrycenter.org.

Hours: 10 am to 5 pm daily (closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)

Admission: $7 adults, $5 ages 3 to 18; $1 per car parking fee.

Additional Charges: $4 per person for “Take Me to The Top” lift ride (optional).

Emily Puro is a Portland freelance writer and mom. This article first appeared in Metro Parent’s November 2005 issue.

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