Sequoia Park Zoo seeks funding for master plan, redwood canopy walk

EUREKA – Sequoia Park Zoo continues to move forward with its updated master plan and is now working on funding to make it a reality.
Eureka City Council approved the plan in March. It calls for new exhibits as well as an expanded gift shop and entry to accommodate increased attendance. It’s all aimed at making the zoo financially self-sustainable.
One of the features the zoo is banking on is a redwood canopy walk that would extend in to Sequoia Park and overlook a new native predator zone.
To fund that part of the project, the zoo is applying for a half million dollar grant from California State Parks.
Zoo Director Gretchen Ziegler said this grant would represent a significant portion of the estimated $1.5 to $2 million budget.
If the plan stays on schedule, Ziegler said the zoo could break ground in the next twelve to eighteen months.
“We hope to really bump up the tourism that visits not only Humboldt county but Eureka in particular,” Ziegler said. She continued, “and hopefully people will spend more time in Eureka and have that redwood bonding experience right here in town and also enjoy what the zoo has to offer which will be more and more diverse all the time.”