On August 18, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden opened Roo Valley, an Australian-themed exhibit featuring kangaroos and little blue penguins, a ropes course, and a beer garden. The new habitat replaces Wildlife Canyon, which was an older facility that was difficult for visitors to access and navigate. It’s part of the Zoo’s More Home to Roam effort to expand and improve its animal habitats and conservation efforts.
One of the Zoo’s goals for Roo Valley was to increase accessibility. The entire area is now completely accessible for guests with strollers or in wheelchairs. Even the 2-story ropes course is ADA-compliant with more than 50 activities, including many that are accessible to those in wheelchairs. According to the Zoo, it may be the only ADA-accessible ropes course in the country.
The new habitat also includes several sustainability features as part of the Zoo’s larger effort to be the greenest zoo in America.
“Every capital project we do has significant sustainable infrastructure incorporated into it,” said Mark Fisher, Vice President of Facilities at the Zoo. “It’s part of our More Home to Roam plan. Our goal is to be net-zero water, energy and waste by 2025, our 150th anniversary.”
All water in the habitat is 100% rainwater collected and stored in 100,000-gallon stormwater tanks under Roo Valley, like the systems in other parts of the Zoo but with even better technology. In addition to providing water for the animal habitats, the Zoo’s stormwater tanks improve sustainability throughout the city because they prevent a large amount of rainwater from entering the city’s storm and sewer systems, which often overflow, causing environmental and property damage.
The Zoo also constructed its third geothermal well system in Roo Valley to help heat and cool the habitat’s pools, cutting the Zoo’s energy usage nearly in half. The geothermal wells, and the Zoo’s solar panels, contribute to the Zoo’s net-zero energy goal.
Even the new beer garden and restaurant include a focus on sustainability with six local breweries on tap and locally sourced menu items such as pizza, wings and burgers.
“For us, sustainability is a “show me, don't tell me” kind of moment. I want to see it. I want to see the solar panels. I want to see the geothermal wells. I want to know where that concrete you put in that habitat came from. I want to know what's in that concrete. I want to know the farmer that made that cheeseburger,” said Fisher. “That's where the rubber hits the road—physical, sustainable infrastructure. And if that is the metric, there's not a zoo in the world that is even close.”
In addition to lowering the Zoo’s environmental footprint, the sustainability features lessen the stress on the nonprofit’s wallet. In 2005, the Zoo spent $1.6 million on utilities, which was 10% of its operating budget. Today, it spends less than a million on utilities annually, even with 35% more buildings.
“We’re privileged to have the Cincinnati Zoo in Uptown as a world-class attraction, economic driver, research and sustainability leader, and devoted partner,” said Beth Robinson, President & CEO, Uptown Consortium, Inc (UCI). “Our community is a better, greener place because of the Zoo’s many sustainability efforts.”
The Zoo is one of the five Uptown anchor institutions and a founding member of UCI. Through its work with UCI, the Zoo continues to help guide community and economic development throughout the Uptown neighborhoods.
To visit the Zoo and the new Roo Valley, guests must make reservations online and follow additional safety protocols. For more information about the Zoo or to make a reservation, visit www.cincinnatizoo.org.