Aquatic Visitors Center near Put-in-Bay getting $6.2M renovation

PUT-IN-BAY, Ohio — The state of Ohio has begun a $6.2 million facelift of the Aquatic Visitors Center on South Bass Island.

Located a short drive from downtown Put-in-Bay, the facility had been owned and operated in recent years by Ohio Sea Grant and Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory. But the Ohio Department of Natural Resources closed on a long-awaited deal for an ownership transfer last December.

“It’s great to see the state investing in it,” said Chris Winslow, Ohio Sea Grant and OSU Stone Laboratory director. “I’m glad they found the money to do it.”

The facility will be renovated by the same firm that designed the Magee Marsh Visitors Center, he said.

Kristin Stanford, a former education and outreach coordinator for Ohio Sea Grant and OSU’s Stone Laboratory, has been hired to oversee the renovation as part of her new duties with the Ohio DNR’s Division of Wildlife.

Best known as the leader of a successful effort to save the formerly endangered Lake Erie water snake, Ms. Stanford became the state agency’s wildlife diversity coordinator last summer. Her office will be at the renovated visitors center once construction is completed in 2025.

“Our plan is to continue the important outreach we have already been achieving there, which was largely facilitated by Stone Lab and Sea Grant for the past decade,” she said. “The goal is to not only build the structure bigger and better, but also the Division wants to expand our partnerships at the facility through collaborative programming and events.”

In a news release issued by the Ohio DNR, Gov. Mike DeWine said he wants a renovated aquatic visitors center to become more of a “go-to destination for people to learn about everything Lake Erie has to offer and all of the work that goes into protecting it.”

The facility and dock is now closed to public access. It is expected to reopen in 2025 after the renovation is completed, the Ohio DNR said.

Ohio DNR Director Mary Mertz said the renovated center “will connect future generations with Lake Erie and the tremendous fishing and other recreational amenities of western Lake Erie.”

The facility will be updated with interactive displays and exhibits, Ohio DNR Division of Wildlife Chief Kendra Wecker said.

The Division of Wildlife used the building as a fish hatchery from 1907 to 1988, raising walleye, sauger, whitefish, cisco, yellow perch, coho salmon, chinook salmon, and steelhead.

In 1992, the Division of Wildlife converted the hatchery building into the Aquatic Visitors Center. It was eventually leased out to Ohio Sea Grant and OSU Stone Laboratory.