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Bidding has reopened for the new 9,500-square-feet visitor’s center at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery.
According to Dave Hendrix, the hatchery manager, the opening of bids was announced on Jan. 15.
“The bids will be out for 45 days and hopefully, we are going to get the bids within the dollars to work with,” Hendrix said. “This time, instead of going on with the overall best value bid, meaning that the lowest bid will be a factor, but it won’t be the only factor, but this time, we are going with the lowest bid. That will be the primary factor.”
The plans call for a two-story visitor's center, with office space on the second floor and a library as well. Planned features for the visitor's center include an aquarium, a training room with a wet lab, a video-viewing equipment, a display of historical artifacts and a book and souvenir shop, which will be managed by the Friends of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery.
“We will have a miniature rail car and visitors can learn how the hatchery used to ship out fish using rail car,” Hendrix said. “We will then have a cave-like environment for the Ozark cavefish, where you can walk up in this cave-like exhibit and learn about the cavefish.”
The new center will have an auditorium, where students and even tour buses will be able to come in and have programs. The current visitor's center has a small room devoted to programs, but can't hold enough visitors for these types of programs.
Hendrix said the new auditorium would seat around 70 people.
“In the wet lab, we can do on-site experiments with the kids, water analysis, hands-on activities,” said Hendrix.
And there will be aquariums with fish in it.
“That kind of takes the public through everything we do here, why we do and shows the different stages of the fish,” Hendrix added.
The Friends of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery will operate a small bookstore.
The new center will be located on the north side of the hatchery’s grounds, near the picnic pavilion near McKinney Street. A new parking area will be with the visitor center, but the older parking lot will still be in use.
There will be another benefit to the visitor’s center. Annually, the hatchery sees an average of 45,000 visitors. But with the new visitor center, Hendrix foresees more than 100,000 visitors annually.
Bidding has reopened for the new 9,500-square-feet visitor’s center at the Neosho National Fish Hatchery.
According to Dave Hendrix, the hatchery manager, the opening of bids was announced on Jan. 15.
“The bids will be out for 45 days and hopefully, we are going to get the bids within the dollars to work with,” Hendrix said. “This time, instead of going on with the overall best value bid, meaning that the lowest bid will be a factor, but it won’t be the only factor, but this time, we are going with the lowest bid. That will be the primary factor.”
The plans call for a two-story visitor's center, with office space on the second floor and a library as well. Planned features for the visitor's center include an aquarium, a training room with a wet lab, a video-viewing equipment, a display of historical artifacts and a book and souvenir shop, which will be managed by the Friends of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery.
“We will have a miniature rail car and visitors can learn how the hatchery used to ship out fish using rail car,” Hendrix said. “We will then have a cave-like environment for the Ozark cavefish, where you can walk up in this cave-like exhibit and learn about the cavefish.”
The new center will have an auditorium, where students and even tour buses will be able to come in and have programs. The current visitor's center has a small room devoted to programs, but can't hold enough visitors for these types of programs.
Hendrix said the new auditorium would seat around 70 people.
“In the wet lab, we can do on-site experiments with the kids, water analysis, hands-on activities,” said Hendrix.
And there will be aquariums with fish in it.
“That kind of takes the public through everything we do here, why we do and shows the different stages of the fish,” Hendrix added.
The Friends of the Neosho National Fish Hatchery will operate a small bookstore.
The new center will be located on the north side of the hatchery’s grounds, near the picnic pavilion near McKinney Street. A new parking area will be with the visitor center, but the older parking lot will still be in use.
There will be another benefit to the visitor’s center. Annually, the hatchery sees an average of 45,000 visitors. But with the new visitor center, Hendrix foresees more than 100,000 visitors annually.
“The center is going to be a wonderful tool for us,” said Hendrix. “We have a wonderful story.”
Some of the current hatchery programs include raising and releasing rainbow trout, providing recovery efforts for the endangered native mussels, working with the endangered Ozark cavefish, helping to restore efforts for the pallid sturgeon and other fish.
Want to bid?
The contact for contractors is at fbo.gov on the Internet or by phone at (612) 713-5218 Elaine DeGroot, contracting officer in Minneapolis, Minn.
What is next?
Hendrix is hoping that about a month after the bids are closed – and one is accepted – groundbreaking/construction will begin.
“I am hoping that construction will take a year at the most,” Hendrix. “That is just a guess. I am guessing around a year.”
The hatchery is the oldest operating federal fish hatchery in the United States. It was established in 1888.
The hatchery is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, contact the hatchery at 451-0554.
