“I’ve been waiting a long time to do this,” said Pete Conroy as he greeted guests to the Little River Canyon Center during the center’s Canyon Fest on Saturday. “Decades waiting for this day right now with you all in these chairs in this room.”Sunday afternoon the Little River Canyon Center opened its doors to the public for the first time. Since the center will not be officially open until February of 2009, it was just a preview of the building and what it can offer to students and guests.
Education, according to Conroy, is the primary purpose of the center, but its secondary purpose is tourism – drawing visitors into the area.
“This is going to be a people magnet. Our goal is to focus in on the region, promoting the national park unit, but also this whole corridor that we work on from JSU,” said Conroy, indicating a map showing the area between Little River Canyon and Cheaha Mountain.
“We needed a little saying, something you can kind of remember… we are from the deepest canyon to the highest mountain. That is Northeast Alabama.”
The open house featured potters, wood workers, a blacksmith and live music as well as discussions by Dr. Chris Murdock on snakes in Alabama and Larry Beane on the canyon.
The large building, located just inside DeKalb County, will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certified, though what level is yet to be determined. Conroy is hopeful the project will earn a silver LEED certification, but the determination will not be made for another six months.
Every system in the building is environmentally friendly from the lighting, which uses motion sensors to determine which rooms need lighting and which do not, to the heating and cooling system, which uses a geothermal system.
“There’s a gazillion things in here that are kind of fun like that, but my favorite are the waterless urinals,” said Conroy as he talked the gathered audience through all the different environmentally friendly devices throughout the building.
Walking trails, may made during the last few years by JSU students, wind through the nearby forest and behind the building is a wide open space where Conroy envisions an amphitheatre – plans have already been drawn for it. Inside, there are classrooms, meeting spaces, a gift shop, auditorium and a large room which will one day house the museum.
A third of the building will be leased by the National Parks Service, giving them offices closer to the area they protect. Currently, parks service offices are located in Fort Payne.
