Zoo Boise has opened the Bews Foundation Conservation and Education Center, a two-story building with roughly 9,000 feet of indoor and outdoor learning space that completes an $11.1 million round of construction at the zoo.
The center opened in May 2026. It holds classrooms, offices, a dedicated entrance for zoo programming and new habitats for the animals the zoo uses in education programs. The building itself is not open to the public.
What is inside
The education center gives Zoo Boise room for programs, camps and classes that it previously ran in tighter quarters, and adds event space for the zoo and the wider Treasure Valley.
Several animals moved in with it. Toogle, the zoo’s southern ground hornbill and a long-standing guest favorite, has a new habitat that visitors can see from inside the zoo even though the education building is closed to them. Alexandrine parakeets and the rest of the zoo’s ambassador animal collection also have new quarters there.
Ambassador animals are the ones taken to classrooms and program sessions rather than kept on public display, so their housing tends to get less attention than a headline exhibit. Building it into the education center puts them alongside the staff who work with them daily.
Part of a larger build
The education center is the last piece of an $11.1 million project that has been reshaping the zoo. The same round of work produced the Virginia R. Bartak Red Panda Passage, a new gift shop, a giraffe feeding platform, the TLC Foundation Small Cat Hideaway and renovations to the Small Animal Kingdom.
The money came through the Friends of Zoo Boise, the nonprofit that supports the zoo, along with donors including Virginia R. Bartak, the Bews Foundation, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust and the Simplot Company Foundation.
“We are grateful for the partnership between the City of Boise and the Friends of Zoo Boise that continues to take our zoo to the next level,” said Mayor Lauren McLean. “When you visit the animals and interact with staff, it is clear the impact these experiences have on our guests, and I couldn’t be happier to see this education campus open and serving our residents and visitors.”
Boise Parks and Recreation Director Sara Arkle added: “We are incredibly grateful for our close relationship with the Friends of Zoo Boise and all the community organizations, donors, and zoo supporters who have made this transformational space a reality. We look forward to teaching the next generation about the importance of animal care and conservation in this state-of-the-art environment.”
Why a small zoo builds a school
Zoo Boise runs on a model that ties visiting to conservation funding. A dollar from every admission goes to field projects, a fund that has now passed $4 million since 2007. Education is the other half of that argument, and until now the zoo had been making it without a proper building.
Registration for Zoo Boise summer camps and programs, which are held in the new building, is open. Zoo Boise is a division of Boise Parks and Recreation and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. You can read more about the conservation fund that supports its field work.
