Press Release: For Immediate Release

News Letter For Spring 2008 Released
Includes the following topic:

• Busch Gardens Presents Jungala
• Harrington Raceway and Casino Renovation
• Interactive Learning at the Highland Library
• Recreating History for the Las Vegas Spring Preserve
• Projects Underway

News Letter For Fall/Winter 2007-2008 Released
Includes the following topic:

• COST is awarded AZA 2007 Best New Exhibit for BIG CAT FALLS
• Four Winds Casino Resort
• Miami Metro Zoo Expansion Project
• Valley View Casino
• SeaWorld San Antonio: Journey to Atlantis
• Bass Pro Shop

News Letter For Summer 2007 Released
Includes the following topic:

• COST of Wisconsin, Inc. Turns a Golden 50!
• George F. Burke Joins COST
• Sharing Natural Beauty with its Visitors
  Las Vegas Springs Preserve Designed to Honor Las Vegas’ Historical Past
• Assisting in Creating an Authentic Kentucky Coal Mine
  Celebrating Kentucky’s Rich Coal Mining History
• Pompano Park Isle of Capri

News Letter For Winter 2007 Released
Includes the following topic:

• Under Water Excitement
  Discovery World at Pier Wisconsin Unveils New Aquariums
• New aquarium exhibits at Discovery World
• Achieving High Quality Worldwide
  COST Middle East Refurbishes Exhibits at Al Ain Zoo
• Combining Natural and Architectural Components:
  Water Features for an Aesthetically Pleasing Environment

News Letter For September 2006
Includes the following topic:

• A Part of Something Wild!
  Celebrating Nature’s Grandeur at the Adirondacks
• The Cats are Back
  Getting Up Close and Personal with the Big Cats at the Philadelphia Zoo
• Making Waves at Waterpark
  Award Winning Work at Reunion Resort and Club

04/25/2006

Adirondack History Museum sets opening celebration
TUPPER LAKE -- The exhibits that will transform the inside of the new Wild Center's main hall into a real Adirondack forest are rock solid, thanks to the experts at COST of Wisconsin.

The exhibit fabrication is in preparation for the official opening celebration of the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks/Wild Center, scheduled for Tuesday, July 4.

"COST began in the fall of 2005 creating several dozen molds from rock formations found in the Adirondacks by our architect, Chip Reay, from Hellmuth Obata & Kassabaum," Stephanie Ratcliffe, head of visitor experience for the Wild Center, said in a news release.

"Chip made repeated hikes in the Adirondacks looking for just the right rock faces to make the exhibits match the ideas he had in his head for cliffs, waterfalls and rock trout pools."

Once the exact rocks were identified and permission was granted by a private property owner to make the casts, the molding process started with the application of a thick, latex-type material brushed onto sections of rock.

The latex seeped into the underlying rocks and dried to a rubber consistency in about a day. The rubbery material was then peeled off the rocks.

"With this materials-application process, very little subjective hand carving is necessary," Dave Petersen, COST project manager, said in the release. "Instead, the Wild Center exhibits will feature an exact replica of what appears in nature."

COST has fabricated rocks and other displays for a variety of museums, theme parks and zoos, including the Bronx Zoo in New York City, the Fort Fisher Aquarium in North Carolina and Universal Studios Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Fla.

Once removed from the rocks, the rubbery casts were sent to COST's Jackson, Wis., fabrication shop, and a fiberglass/concrete material was applied to the molds to turn them into rock panels. When dry, the concrete was peeled out of the molds, allowing the casts to be used many times.

The lighter weight concrete forms were then loaded onto trucks and shipped for installation in Wild Center exhibits.

Using a different process, COST is also fabricating the Creation Ice Wall, which is part of the Wild Center's commitment to describing the vast time scale of natural history in the Adirondacks. The towering glacier will be visible from the museum's Great Hall and will be complemented by exhibits describing the Ice Age events that shaped the modern Adirondacks.

The Wild Center mixes up the indoors and outdoors in some unusual ways. There are waterfalls inside and exhibit labels in the woods outside.

Hiking trails through the center's 31-acre campus are like museum exhibit halls, except they're in the forest, with labels that trained staff can change daily.

Indoors, there's a marsh that looks as if it flows into a real wetland outside the building, and the calls of live owls and otters will mix with the splashing cascade of falling water from a trout-filled stream.

Cameras miles away will import views from the top of a mountain and from the wild and scenic river that flows by the grounds.

Films from inside beaver lodges and from field scientists doing research in the Adirondacks will showcase the world that surrounds the museum.