National Aquarium opens its newest exhibit, Harbor Wetland

Leaders and supporters of the National Aquarium held a ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday for its newest attraction, a $14 million free outdoor exhibit called Harbor Wetland.

Located in the inlet between Inner Harbor Piers 3 and 4, Harbor Wetland is a “living habitat” and educational exhibit created to evoke the Chesapeake Bay tidal salt marsh that flourished before the area was urbanized.

The aquarium built the exhibit to help draw native marine species back to the harbor and filter runoff into the Patapsco River while also expanding its urban campus with an outdoor setting for educational programming that teaches visitors about the harbor and the need to support conservation efforts.

“Enjoy nature here in the heart of Baltimore – no fee or ticket required!” states a sign on Pier 3.

Thursday was exactly 43 years after the original aquarium building opened on Pier 3, on August 8, 1981. The attraction has since grown to include the Marine Mammal Pavilion on Pier 4, the Australia: Wild Extremes exhibit on Pier 3 and the Animal Care and Rescue Center at 901 E. Fayette Street.

Designed by Ayers Saint Gross as part of a larger campus master plan, Harbor Wetland is a 10,000-square-foot exhibit featuring more than 32,000 native shrubs and marsh grasses that create a habitat for microorganisms, fishes, crabs, birds and small mammals. Studio Gang of Chicago, led by founder Jeanne Gang, is credited as the original concept architect.

More than 100 people gathered on Thursday to get a first look at the exhibit, which enables people to walk out over the water between Piers 3 and 4 and serves as something of a teaser for the rest of the aquarium. Planners say the exhibit incorporates “sustainable innovations” that were developed by the aquarium’s conservation and exhibit fabrication teams and are now under review for patents by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

“This is yet another example of Baltimore innovations” that have “changed the culture of America,” such as Mr. Trash Wheel, railroads, dentistry, snowballs, Babe Ruth and William Donald Schaefer, said aquarium President and CEO John Racanelli.

“I hope you’ll agree that Harbor Wetland may be another of Baltimore’s inventions that reverberate far and wide,” he said. “Our mission at the National Aquarium is to connect people with nature, to inspire care and compassion for our ocean planet, and this new exhibit, habitat, park, call it what you will, is intended to do just that.”

“Natural habitat restoration is a key part of our all-hands-on-deck strategy to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who worked to secure $564,700 in federal funds to support the project.

“That’s why I’ve fought to support the National Aquarium’s efforts to create this floating wetland right in the heart of downtown Baltimore,” he said. “Not only will this innovative approach bring Bay wildlife back to the Inner Harbor, it will also serve as a living educational resource helping strengthen our treasured Bay for generations to come.”

“We hear so much negative talk about Inner Harbor water quality, but there is life in this water and there always has been,” said Jack Cover, the aquarium’s General Curator.

“My hope is that when people see the life this wetland attracts, from tiny microorganisms to fishes, crabs, water birds and even small mammals like muskrats and otters – all of which we’re already seeing here — they might reconsider our local waterways and perhaps even take better care of our natural surroundings.”

Directors scheduled the Harbor Wetland’s ribbon-cutting for Thursday as a way of celebrating the aquarium’s birthday. Friday, August 9 will be the first full day the exhibit is open to the public. It will be open daily, at no charge and without an aquarium ticket, during the same operating hours as the rest of the facility, barring “extreme weather” or other adverse outdoor conditions.

The project is presented by Baltimore’s CFG Bank, with additional private investments from The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, The Bunting Family Philanthropies, Constellation and the aquarium’s philanthropic community, along with public sector funding.

The Harbor Wetland exhibit is one of three capital projects that aquarium officials decided to undertake a decade ago. The other two are the Animal Care and Rescue Center, which opened in 2018, and a first-of-its-kind ocean water dolphin sanctuary, which is still in the planning stages.

In addition to the floating wetlands and viewing platforms of the Harbor Wetland exhibit, the aquarium commissioned a mural by Justin Nethercut, a street artist and activist known broadly as Nether, and it’s now visible on the west wall of the Marine Mammal Pavilion.

More information about the National Aquarium and the new Harbor Wetland exhibit is available at www.aqua.org.