New Crane Soars at Woodland Park Zoo

Posted by Craig Newberry, Communications
Photos by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

Construction ramps up on new Forest Trailhead exhibit!

Hello Forest Trailhead! It's build time.

Woodland Park Zoo is home to many birds and cranes, but guests will now notice a very different type of crane at the zoo as construction on the new Forest Trailhead exhibit ramps up. 

Zoo guests can see a 125-foot-tall, blue crane rising above the treetops. The crane is a crucial part of the construction work on the zoo’s new immersive, best-in-class Forest Trailhead exhibit that will be home to Matschie’s tree kangaroos, red pandas, keas and forest reptiles. The crane weighs a whopping 350,000 pounds and can lift up to 44,000 pounds or about twice the weight of a school bus!

The crane's arrival is a sign that construction on the new Forest Trailhead exhibit is ramping up and guests can expect to see it in action into late winter 2025 when it will be dismantled, pending any delays. The new exhibit is scheduled to open in 2026.

The crane stretches over the canopy at Woodland Park Zoo.

While the zoo is working to create a better experience for guests, consider donating to the new forest exhibit! The Forest Trailhead is the final capital project of Woodland Park Zoo’s seven-year, $110M Forests for All campaign. Now in its final phase, this multi-year campaign began in 2018 as the most ambitious in zoo history. Since the campaign’s inception, more than 115,000 donors have contributed nearly $101M to the zoo’s animal care, wildlife conservation, sustainability, educational and horticultural programs, along with capital improvements like the newly renovated Living Northwest Trail and building the zoo’s endowment.

Thanks to our generous community of supporters and an insurance settlement from the 2016 fire in the zoo’s former Day and Night Exhibits (the site of the Forest Trailhead), the zoo has 88% of the $39.6M Forest Trailhead exhibit project funds committed. The zoo is actively fundraising for the remaining $4.7M through the Forests for All campaign to open the Forest Trailhead exhibit to our community in 2026.

Visit zoo.org/forestsforall to make a gift to help rebuild the heart of Woodland Park Zoo and help create a space that supports healthy forests, thriving animals, and a place to foster community engagement, equity and action. Donors who give $2,500 and above can “plant their name” in the Forest Trailhead with a special recognition leaf within the new exhibit.

Guests get a glimpse at a scale model of the new exhibit space.

Remember, every visit to Woodland Park Zoo supports more than 25 wildlife conservation projects in the Pacific Northwest and around the world, as well as amazing animal care for the hundreds of animals that call the zoo home.

The new Forest Trailhead was designed by a team of talented architects at LMN Architects. The contractor, Sellen Construction, was founded in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood in 1944 and is a leading general contractor in the Pacific Northwest.

Wander among the treetops where tree kangaroos and red pandas make their home on this two-story elevated pathway offering viewpoints unlike anywhere else in the zoo.

Connect to global communities in mountain forests much like the Pacific Northwest who are leading solutions to protect, restore and sustain forests for animals and people. Image provided by LMN Architects.