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Little Bear @ Great Falls Discovery Center LbNA #21745

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Apr 28, 2006
Location:
City:Turners Falls/Greenfield
County:Franklin
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:1
Planted by:this little piggy
Found by: ladybugsmom
Last found:May 11, 2014
Status:FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Last edited:Apr 28, 2006
Little Bear Letterbox

Location: Great Falls Discovery Center
2 Avenue A
Turners Falls MA 01376
Franklin County
(413) 863-3221
www.greatfallsma.org
Summer Hours = usually June-October: Tuesday - Sunday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Regular Hours = sometime during or after October: Friday & Saturday 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM (some extended hours on school vacation weeks)
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year’s Day
FREE Admission
Placer: “This Little Piggy” with assistance from Ranger Susan Russo
Level: EASY & FUN (placed by a child)
# of boxes: 1

Directions to Great Falls Discovery Center:
From points North and South – Take Interstate 91, take exit 27 onto Route 2 East.
From points West – Take Route 2 East to the traffic lights in Gill.
From points East – Take Route 2 West to Gill.

At the Route 2 lights in Gill, go south toward Turners Falls and Deerfield over the river on Avenue A. You have arrived!

Parking: Handicap accessible parking is immediately after the bridge on the right.
The main parking lot is just around the corner; take the next right to enter the lot.

Special Note: Go to www.greatfalls.org for special events at this site!

Directions to Little Bear letterbox:
From either parking area, enter the building (larger of two buildings on site) following paths and sign to the front door “Main Entrance”.

Immediately in front of you, you’ll see a rock wall model. Can you find the dinosaur footprint?

The room you have entered has a large table in the middle. It is an interactive model of the Connecticut River Valley Watershed. Look it over. There’s also a video explaining the importance of watersheds on a neighboring wall. Be sure to say, “Hello,” to the rangers or clerks at the front desk.

Walking past the watershed table, you have a choice to go left or right. Take the right for a real adventure (or if you’re not interested in an adventure, take the left and continue directions from the * below).

The right path will lead you through the different watershed environments, so be sure to take your time and explore the wonderful exhibits.
The first environment you’ll come across is the Barrier Beach on your left. This Little Piggy enjoys looking through the spotter scope and at the flying osprey. At the fork in the path, take a left.

In this area, there will be different watershed environments on both sides of the path. On the left side, you’ll see the Sand Plain environment. This Little Piggy’s favorite part of the exhibit is the spadefoot toad. Can you find it? Further on the left side, you’ll see the Grassland environment. This Little Piggy likes to look at the meadowlark and the meadow vole. There’s a rock wall separating the Grassland from the Oak-Hickory Forest environment. Look for the chipmunk here. It’s one of This Little Piggy’s all time favorites. This Little Piggy also enjoys looking at the Baltimore oriole and the spotted salamander in the forest. On the right side, the River Floodplain environment spans the whole side. This Little Piggy recommends getting down and taking a good look at all of the fish. Can you find the tessellated darter? Look up in the trees, too. This Little Piggy likes to find the wood duck and the grey tree frog. Can you find them, too?

This path now opens to a small room with picture and text exhibits on both sides focusing on changes to the watershed environments. Now you have a few choices. As you walk past that room, you’ll notice the path seems to go in multiple directions. LOOK UP and you’ll see the black bear that This Little Piggy named this box after.
Here are your choices:
Choice 1) You can continue to the left in front of the bear, which is a short diversion into the Hardwood Forest, Spruce-Fir Forest, and Northern Bog environments. This Little Piggy loves the moose! Recently, This Little Piggy spotted a red-eyed vireo here. Can you find it? The size of the pygmy shrew is something that always amazes This Little Piggy, too. This room is a dead end, so turn around and look at your other 2 choices. (Go to Choice 3, if you don’t want any more diversions.)
Choice 2) You can head towards the middle fork, which turns left just past the bear and continues down a ramp. At the bottom of the ramp, you can look out at the canal and the Connecticut River. This Little Piggy thinks the canal moves really fast. There’s also a computer in this room. It has a lot of great information about animals, fish, and plants that are native and non-native species to the Connecticut River Watershed. Past the computer, and straight down the hallway you’ll walk under glittering salmon fish (notice the public bathrooms to your left) to an area with fish tanks to look at. These fish tanks show fish that live in different areas of the watershed depending on the water flow. There’s also a video that explains this exhibit located here. This path ends at the Great Hall. This room usually has an art exhibit that focuses on nature by local artists and photographers. This is also a space where activities posted on the Great Falls Discovery Center’s website (www.greatfallsma.org) take place. You’ll have to turn around here, backtrack and follow directions for Choice 3.
Choice 3) You can turn right just past the room. You’ll follow a hallway that shows pictures and gives examples of how one person can make a difference to the environment. There are also postings and pamphlets for other interesting places located on the left wall past the windows. The hallway will open up to the final watershed exhibit on your left, the Salt Marsh environment. Here This Little Piggy recommends getting down and looking at the fish again. A favorite is the mummichog. This Little Piggy also likes to look in the magnifier at the mosquito larvae. Walk past the look-out deck and the Barrier Beach environment again. Continue to the left following the hallway back to the room with watershed table. Before you get to the table, *go up the ramp that heads to the end of the building. At the end of the ramp, on the left, you’ll see the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center Museum Store. (To learn more about this Friends organization go to http://www.greatfallsma.org/friends.html.) You’ll find lots of wonderful things here. And unlike other museum stores, the prices are great! Just past the entrance to the store, but before the entrance to the back offices, you’ll find a short table with an exhibit. Look over the exhibit, and then take a look under the table in the way back…there you’ll find the Little Bear Letterbox. This exhibit is one of This Little Piggy’s favorite places in the Discovery Center – just the right size. Before you leave this area, look up at the television set to see live video of the bald eagle nest at Barton’s Cove, Gill. To leave the Discovery Center, turn around and head back down the ramp, past the watershed table to the door you entered from. On the right of the door, there is a small table and guest book. Be sure to sign in. This Little Piggy hopes you enjoyed your visit!