Education center, new exhibits in store as SC zoo celebrates 50-year anniversary

COLUMBIA — When Riverbanks Zoo and Garden opened in April 1974, its then-director said he expected the zoo to continue growing and changing for as long as it was open.

After growing from the small petting zoo known as Columbia Zoo in the 1960s to what was then considered a state-of-the-art facility, the zoo had already grown and changed, John Mehrtens noted.

“Since I came to Columbia, I have been told by some people I could never build a zoo here,” The State reported him saying at the time. “I have been told by others all we had to do was put up some chicken wire and get a couple of possums and people would come.”

Fifty years later, Mehrtens’ prediction seems to have come true. At a celebration of the zoo’s future Friday, the day after the anniversary of opening its gates to the public, officials pointed to upcoming projects, including plans for an expanded education program and a major renovation straddling the river.

“We think that we can take what (the founders) designed, what their vision was, and build on it,” said Tommy Stringfellow, the zoo’s president. “And that’s where we’re headed now for the next 50 years.”

The zoo brings in more than 1.3 million visitors each year, Stringfellow said, making it the state’s largest gated tourist attraction. Lawmakers have recognized its work in the past two years with $6 million in state money for maintenance work.

After half a century, the zoo needed the money to do repairs in some of its aging facilities, such as updating air conditioning systems, Stringfellow said.

Expanding education center

Donations and local tax dollars fund most of the zoo’s major projects. The $10 million Boyd Aquarium & Reptile Conservation Center that opened last year, for instance, came from a donation from the Darnall and Susan Boyd Foundation in Columbia.

While a private donation will fund the upcoming Jane B. Friedman Conservation Learning Center, expected to open in 2026, zoo officials are hoping for state money to pay more teachers.

The $7 million center will expand the zoo’s existing education programs, including more indoor and outdoor classroom space. Field trips could stop in the classrooms to learn about the zoo and its animals before seeing them.

At least 10,000 school-age children visit the zoo every year, according to zoo officials. More than 30 school buses sat in the parking lot Friday — a typical number this time of year, a spokesman said.

“We have a big demand for camps, a big demand for schools that want to have classroom instruction,” Stringfellow said. “This new education facility allows us to do that.”

The zoo already has 29 teachers, who lead classes around the park and teach students about conservation, spokesman Matt Perron said. Officials are still in talks with the state education department about how many more educators the zoo could hire, and what that might cost, he said.

Teaching children about conservation is one of the most important things the zoo can do, Gov. Henry McMaster said Friday, as sea lions splashed behind him.

“If we can just inspire the children, make them understand — let them understand — how important this state is, how precious this state is, how precious and natural our heritage is, that will help them understand what has made us what we are, and what we are produces wonderful, unique things like this,” McMaster said.

The zoo has partnered with state agencies before.

In 2017, zoologists who specialize in reptiles and amphibians — called herpetologists — began raising nearly 30 gopher tortoise hatchlings for Department of Natural Resources researchers to study. The groups partnered again in 2021 to raise and release gopher frogs in the Lowcountry.

What else is coming up?

The zoo’s most immediate addition will be a $2.5 million breeding facility for the endangered Komodo dragons. Expected to open in June, the new facility has space for more lizards, including a new male lizard and any potential hatchlings.

But the biggest upcoming renovation will be the second part of the Bridge to the Wild project.

Richland and Lexington county councils approved last year borrowing $80 million to cover the cost of the plan. Since most of the zoo is in Richland County, taxpayers in that county are paying the larger share: $44 million to Lexington County’s $36 million, paid over the next 20 years through property tax bills starting in 2025.

Once the project is complete, visitors will be able to dine on the banks of the Saluda River, take a gondola to the other side of the river or walk a series of nature trails to see black bears, red wolves and bald eagles.

“We’re hoping that this expansion will teach South Carolina more about what used to live here or what’s endangered here,” Stringfellow said.

The first phase of the project, funded through $32 million in private donations, included the new aquarium that opened last year, as well as a white rhino habitat and renovations to several exhibits.

The expansion, projected to be complete in 10 years, is expected to draw in at least 600,000 more visitors annually, according to the zoo. That project will help carry the zoo for the next half century, Stringfellow said.

“Fifty years is strong, and we look forward to what’s to come in the next 50 years,” Stringfellow said.