The Noyo Center for Marine Science in Fort Bragg broke ground this week on a 2,240-square-foot facility called the Whale House LaBONEatory, which will house a 73-foot blue whale skeleton. The skeleton will be the centerpiece of what will ultimately be the Ocean Science Center, the Noyo Center’s 11.5-acre campus for marine research, the first construction on the Noyo Headlands in generations.
The skeleton came from a whale that washed ashore on the Mendocino Coast in 2009. Hundreds of volunteers rallied to recover the bones of the animal and hauled much of 70 tons of whale up a 40-foot bluff to be buried in a nearby forest to allow natural processes to clean the bones.
Six years before the whale washed up, the California Coastal Conservancy had authorized funding for the City of Fort Bragg to support public outreach, market studies and an economic development strategy for the former Georgia-Pacific mill site. A community-driven planning process involved more than 300 residents in reimagining the industrial property as a public asset, moving from a timber-based economy toward one centered on eco-tourism, coastal access and marine science. The concept of an Ocean Science Center was born of that thought process.
The project has been funded by the California Natural Resources Agency, the California Coastal Conservancy, The Spirit of Max Foundation and private donors.