New National Conservation Legacy Center set to open in Missoula after $22 million build

Missoula County Commissioner Dave Strohmeyer hosted Lisa Tate, executive director of the National Museum of Forest Service History, to discuss the National Conservation Legacy Center and this week’s public opening.

The National Conservation Legacy Center is a 26,000-square-foot museum that Tate said will tell the history of public lands and conservation across the United States. “And so far, we have spent about $22,000,000 to bring this project to fruition,” Tate said, noting the museum’s collection of more than 55,000 items and its status as an independent nonprofit rather than a Forest Service facility.

The center’s design is intended to showcase forest-products technology and regional timber stories. Tate described a mass-timber approach that uses cross-laminated timber, mass ply panels and laminated veneer lumber; she said 14 forest-products companies donated lumber. The building’s signature features include fabricated, tree-like columns designed to hold the roof while reflecting different species’ stories; Tate named architect Tom Chung as the project designer.

Exhibits are built around interactive technology. Tate said visitors will encounter sensor-activated columns that bring historical figures to life and a 60-by-20-foot screen showing aerial footage of forested lands, including El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico. The museum hired Australian exhibition designer Art Processors for the exhibit work and credited Trivium with integrating interactive systems.

Tate described both permanent and rotating exhibits and highlighted a six-foot digital “rings of change” tree cookie that lets visitors explore decades of content. The museum also includes a climate-controlled repository for artifacts and a full-time oral historian funded by a donor to collect interviews from forest workers, industry, grazing partners and retirees.

Tate recounted the project’s fundraising arc: the museum had approximately $250,000 in the bank when she became director about a decade ago and later received a pivotal estate gift of roughly $3,000,000 from a retired forester that helped move the project into construction. She said the museum’s board and a national group of supporters helped raise additional funds to reach the present budget.

The museum opens to members with a preview on July 16; the public ribbon cutting is July 17 at 10 a.m. at 3605 U.S. Highway 10 West. Tate said the museum will be free during the opening and then open daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. except on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Event sponsors for the opening day mentioned during the conversation include Silk Road (catering) and Anderson Construction (builder).

The museum intends to expand its national programming in coming years, including teacher-training workshops and traveling exhibits drawn from the center’s collections. Tate said the center was designed to accommodate future growth on a 31-acre campus and to host a mix of local events and national outreach.

For visitors: the National Conservation Legacy Center’s address is 3605 U.S. Highway 10 West; the museum’s initial public ribbon cutting is set for July 17 at 10 a.m., and the museum will offer free admission that day. Missoula County communications lists email communications@missoulacounty.us and missoula.co/countyupdates for county updates.