Museum Name: Turtle Bay Exploration Park
Schedule: Summer hours: every day, 9 a.m to 5 p.m.
Established: Visitor Center opened in 2000, Museum in 2002
Address: 840 Auditorum Drive, Redding, CA
Phone Number: 1-800-TURTLEBAY or 530-243-8850
Fax Number: 530-243-8898
Email: info@turtlebay.org
Director: Dr. John Peterson
Website: www.turtlebay.org
Focus: Exploring the relationship between humans and their environment, with a focus on the Sacramento River Valley.
Costs: see Web site for current costs
Exhibits of 2006: Stormy Weather: The Climate Change Adventure; Butterflies!: A butterfly house; Planks-a-lot: Architects at Play; Penjing: Magnificent, Mountainous Miniature Landscapes
Class Trip Programs: Tours available for classes
Class Trip Pricing: Contact Turtle Bay at 1-800-TURTLEBAY for class trip prices.

Main Lobby - Oak Hall
Turtle Bay Museum was designed with the visitor experience in mind. Upon entering the lobby, guests encounter elements of water, sound, light, and space. The twenty-two-foot-high north and south walls of the lobby are constructed entirely of steel restrained glass, giving the space an open feeling and drawing the surrounding forest in as a visual element of the space. Opposite a large reception desk rises a glass wall with sheets of water cascading down over Native American petroglyphs, which are sand blasted into the glass. Just behind this wall an iconic oak tree rises from a glass floor to the exposed beams over twenty feet above. The root ball of the oak remains visible, encased in a lighted vault beneath the floor.

The River Lab
Adjacent to The Visible River is The River Lab. The River Lab is a perfect example of interactive museum space. A large, inclined table filled with sand occupies the center of the exhibit space. Visitors are assisted in building landforms and using water to learn about erosion patterns and river systems. Many small exhibits fill the space with buttons to press and levers to pull for "hands-on" learning. Life science and geology, presented with a message of sustainability, are the essence of The River Lab.

The Visible River
Aquatic life and the geology of the Sacramento River are the focus of The Visible River exhibit. Visitors enter the space by descending through a dramatically lit, simulated limestone cave formation, complete with stalactites and stalagmites. Water seems to drip down the cave walls, and the sounds of bats chirping are heard from fissures in the cave walls. As visitors exit the cave they emerge before a twelve-by-twenty-four-foot viewing window onto a twenty-two-thousand-gallon tank containing aquatic life of the Sacramento River. The tank has been crafted to resemble a cut-away view of a riverbank. Trout, steelhead, and sturgeon swim beside the visitor against a powerful current and hide around tree snags and boulders. A defining element of the exhibit is a massive cottonwood tree that appears to have fallen into the river, protruding through the viewing window and into the Museum. The cottonwood stretches across the whole interior of the exhibit and hangs suspended from the ceiling.

People of the River
For centuries people have lived and worked in the northern foothills of the Central Valley. They have all held in common the Sacramento River and the life it affords. This link is explored and interpreted through the exhibits in the People of the River gallery. From a full-scale replica of a bark house, the primary dwelling space of the native Wintu, to cabins of the people who passed through, the exhibits in People of the River lend realism to human history. The bark house accommodates twenty people and is equipped with the recorded sounds of ancient songs and stories of the Wintu. Interactive exhibits detail the lives of the "forty-niners" who came to the area in search of gold. The stories of others who passed through-the fur trappers or the people who came to build Shasta Dam, for example-are richly interpreted through "hands-on" artifacts and exhibits.

Resources Gallery - From the Land, From the Water
From the Land, From the Water focuses on the material resources of the region and the varied methods of harvesting them. From fishing, hunting, and gathering to twentieth-century ranching and agriculture, the Resources Gallery is a chronological journey through resource management. A full-sized figure representing a Wintu boy, crouching to spear a salmon, leads to a trapper's pelts drying on a rack. Exhibits detailing timber and mineral extraction lead to twentieth-century farming and ranching with the cab of a 1950s pick-up truck protruding from the wall. An exhibit on water conservation and water consumption in contemporary California draws attention to one of our most important resources. The centerpiece of the resources gallery is the Creativity Studio, a docent-led interactive learning space for exploring alternative energy devices and sustainable resource use.

Amenities include the Turtle Bay Museum, McConnell Arboretum & Gardens, Paul Bunyan Forest Camp, gift shop and visitor center.