Construction to begin on new GRDA Ecosystems and Education Center

A crowd of approximately 150 interested parties was on hand Friday morning August 22 during GRDA's construction launch ceremonies for the new GRDA Ecosystems and Education Center in Langley. The bulldozer (at right) was put to work almost immediately. The center is scheduled to be completed in Summer 2009.	GRDA Board Chairman Terry Frost stands beside one of the bulldozers used to prepare the construction site for the new GRDA Ecosystems and Education Center in Langley. Frost is one of several Grand Lake area residents who have played an important role in the effort to bring a visitor center to Langley.	Dr. Bruce Howell, former Supt. of Tulsa Public Schools and chairman of Visitor Center, Inc. shares his vision for the GRDA Ecosystems and Education Center with participants at the construction launch event on Friday, August 22 in Langley. According to Dr. Howell, the Center will be an educational resource for the entire region as its exhibit space will be used to tell the history of the Grand River system and the four county (Mayes, Craig, Ottawa and Delaware) area.

Langley -- A crowd of approximately 150 was on hand Friday morning (August 22) as the Grand River Dam Authority marked the official construction launch for the new 16,000 square foot GRDA Ecosystems and Education Center in Langley.

GRDA, Visitors Center Inc. and the Grand Lake Area Chamber of Commerce (GLACC) are partners in the project. Beck Design, the Oklahoma-based firm that designed the Oklahoma Historical Museum, was chosen, through the bid process, as the architectural firm for the Center's design. Crossland Construction Company was also chosen through the bidding process to construct the new building on a bluff overlooking Grand Lake.

At its August 8 meeting, the GRDA Board of Directors approved the construction contract on the $4.8 million structure, finally setting into motion a project the lake area has anticipated since 2000. That was the year the idea for a visitor center adjacent to historic Pensacola Dam really began to take shape. GRDA designated the property and Visitors Center Inc. was organized in 2001 in part to secure funding for the project. That group has engaged in several fund raising activities in coordination with the Grand Gateway Economic Development Association and will contribute $300,000.00 toward construction of the center.

Designed to be the home of GRDA Ecosystems Management offices, along with a state-of-the-art water research lab, the new building will also contain offices for the GLACC, a community auditorium and historical exhibits. Free tours of Pensacola Dam, offered by GRDA, will also originate from the new building.

The Center is scheduled for a Summer 2009 completion date.