Utah’s Hogle Zoo has won a Significant Achievement Exhibit Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums for Aline W. Skaggs Wild Utah, the three-acre habitat it opened in May 2024 to show the state’s own wildlife to the people who live among it.
AZA announced this year’s winners on September 30 at its Honors and Awards Lunch, held during the association’s annual conference in Portland, Oregon.
What the award is for
The zoo describes the habitat as a conservation stewardship hub and a living laboratory, with behind-the-scenes access and programs such as the Western Toad Conservation Program tying animal wellbeing, community science and field conservation together. The design is built around interpretation. A visitor from Salt Lake City is meant to walk out recognizing the country they already live in, not only the animals in it.
“The Aline W. Skaggs Wild Utah habitat showcases innovative wildlife conservation made possible by our talented team and strong community support,” said Liz Larsen, the zoo’s interim president and chief executive. “We’re deeply appreciative of the AZA’s recognition of an exhibit that protects native species, engages our community, and celebrates the powerful stories found right here at home.”
The pieces a visitor can actually walk into
Wild Utah holds 25 native plant species and 30 native animal species, among them cougars, desert bighorn sheep, burros, gray foxes, skunks, western toads, burrowing owls and desert tortoises.
The Norma W. Matheson Education Animal Center has an interactive animal care kitchen and the ambassador animals used in the zoo’s informal science education enhancement program, which reaches second-grade classrooms. A bee mural by Matt Willey spans that building. Willey founded The Good of the Hive and has committed to painting 50,000 honeybees in murals around the world, the number a healthy hive needs; the Hogle Zoo wall is his first in Utah.
The bio-secure Utah Amphibian Conservation Room puts the Western Toad Conservation Project in front of guests, with instructions for joining the community science side of it. The Joseph M. Simmons Foundation Nature Play Area and Interpretive Campsite is aimed at getting families comfortable outdoors. In the Maker Space, visitors build pollinator seed packets to take home.
There is infrastructure in the award too. The zoo converted the Eccles Express train to a zero-emissions electric locomotive and, with Rocky Mountain Power’s Blue Sky program, put solar panels on the train shed inside Wild Utah to charge it overnight and generate renewable power.
What does a Significant Achievement Exhibit Award recognize?
It is AZA’s exhibit category, which covers facility design and the interpretation built into it rather than a single conservation result. The association’s annual awards span conservation, research, education, volunteer engagement and design, and are open to its accredited members. Founded in 1924, AZA accredits 255 zoos, aquariums and related facilities in 12 countries.
“This year’s award recipients represent the very best of the AZA community,” said Dan Ashe, the association’s president and chief executive. “Their achievements not only strengthen our profession but also advance our shared mission of saving species and inspiring people to care for the natural world.”
Wild Utah had already drawn the association’s attention once, during Hogle Zoo’s 2025 accreditation, when the zoo came through its inspection with a perfect result and AZA singled out the habitat’s zoological practices and interpretive approach.
A native-species exhibit is a harder sell than it looks
Animals a Utah family might theoretically meet on a weekend hike do not pull a crowd the way a tiger does, and a zoo that hands them three acres is making a bet about attention. The bet here appears to have worked, and the award is the industry saying so. Hogle Zoo’s other recent news has run to the charismatic end, including the arrival of the Amur tiger Maxim, which is the contrast that makes the Wild Utah decision interesting.
The habitat is open daily with the rest of the zoo.
Quick answers
- What award did Utah's Hogle Zoo win?
A Significant Achievement Exhibit Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, for its Aline W. Skaggs Wild Utah habitat. AZA announced this year's winners on September 30, 2026 at its Honors and Awards Lunch during its annual conference in Portland, Oregon.
- What is Wild Utah?
A three-acre habitat that opened in May 2024 and is given over to Utah's own wildlife, plants and ecosystems. It holds 25 native plant species and 30 native animal species, among them cougars, desert bighorn sheep, burros, gray foxes, skunks, western toads, burrowing owls and desert tortoises.
- What can a visitor do there?
The Norma W. Matheson Education Animal Center has an interactive animal care kitchen and ambassador animals. The bio-secure Utah Amphibian Conservation Room puts the Western Toad Conservation Project in view. There is a nature play area and interpretive campsite, and a Maker Space where visitors build pollinator seed packets to take home.
- Who painted the bee mural?
Matt Willey, who founded The Good of the Hive and has committed to painting 50,000 honeybees in murals worldwide, the number a healthy hive needs. The mural spans the Norma W. Matheson Education Animal Center and is his first in Utah.
- Is there anything in it beyond the animals?
Yes. The zoo converted the Eccles Express train to a zero-emissions electric locomotive and, with Rocky Mountain Power's Blue Sky program, installed solar panels on the train shed inside Wild Utah to charge it overnight and generate renewable energy.
- Had the habitat been recognized before?
Yes. AZA singled out Wild Utah's modern zoological practices and interpretive approach during Hogle Zoo's 2025 accreditation, when the zoo received a perfect inspection.
