‘Feels like coming home’: Four years after SC state park fire, nature center reopens
The rebuilt nature center at Huntington Beach State Park officially opened Friday, four years after the original building was struck by lightning and burned down, killing more than 20 animals.
Park Manager Brenda Magers likened the opening of the new nature center to coming home from vacation. “It just kind of feels like coming home,” she said. “Like we just kind of stepped away for a little bit. But now we’re back.”
Mike Walker has been a ranger at Huntington Beach State Park since 1991, and was part of the team that planned out the exhibits when the original nature center opened in 2002 near Murrells Inlet.
Walker said one important role of the nature center is to educate the estimated 35,000 to 40,000 annual visitors on how they can limit their impact on the habitats and wildlife at the park.
“We try to educate our visitors about some of those simple things we all can do just to minimize our impact on planet Earth and its wildlife,” he said.
“Some of these are things that are well-known by many people, like keeping your lights off at the beach when the sea turtles are nesting and filling your holes.
“Shore birds are a rapidly declining group of animals. Make sure you keep your dog on a leash. We even have areas in the park we don’t allow dogs at all just to give those birds a safe sanctuary.”
Walker, whose job includes caring for the animals inside the nature center, said its reopening is an important step in the healing process after the “deep and profound loss” of the animals killed in the fire. “I don’t know if you ever get over it. You just learn to deal with it.”
Many of the animals killed in the fire were part of interactive exhibits in the nature center, including a horseshoe crab and a stingray that were featured in a touch tank.
Walker said the new nature center closely resembles the original building. “It worked as a perfect nature center, I thought, so we didn’t really need to reinvent the wheel.”
Among the changes made to the new building are updated murals and graphics that reflect some of the changes in wildlife seen at the state park over the years, including an increased population of wood storks and spoonbills. A new horseshoe crab and stingray arrived Thursday to be displayed in the rebuilt touch tank. Walker said the purpose of the nature center is to educate visitors on what wildlife and habitats they can expect to see in the coastal park, as well as on how to be “better stewards of our environment.”
“I wouldn’t just call them pets, they’re more non-human coworkers,” Walker said of the animals in the nature center. “You’re part of a team helping to educate the public.”
