KKL-JNF’s new state-of-the-art multi-million shekel Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitors and Education Center, which is named for former Canadian PM Stephen Harper, was inaugurated in a festive ceremony on November 6, 2019.
After years of planning and building, and investments totaling about 130 million shekels, KKL-JNF inaugurated the new Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary Visitors and Education Center.
The center was dedicated by KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar and Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen J. Harper, for whom the center is named. During his term as Prime Minister, Harper took part in promoting the project and donated to it personally. Together, they cut the ribbon and formerly inaugurated the new center. The Hula Lake Park is the largest birdwatching site in Israel, and is considered one of the most important birdwatching sites in the world.
Hula Lake Park is also one of Israel’s largest tourist attractions, serving as a tourism and economic anchor for the entire northern region. The site attracts about 420,000 visitors each year from Israel and abroad. The opening of the new visitors’ center is an important development for the State of Israel in general and for the residents of northern Israel in particular, since it is expected to increase the number of visitors to the region, bringing a myriad of benefits that will positively affect local residents’ lives.
The new center will offer a variety of attractions utilizing cutting-edge technology so that visitors can experience Hula Lake Park and the world of birds in an interesting and engaging manner. Attractions will include: An accessible virtual reality station that will make visitors fly among migrating cranes; the largest bird information wall in the Middle East; a LED light-up globe depicting the world’s bird migration routes; a conference hall that will also host nature photography exhibitions; an interactive ‘mini-Hula-Lake’ model; and a multi-media KKL-JNF corner.
In addition, there is also a magnificent 200-seat movie auditorium for screening movies about the Hula Valley. The auditorium will also serve as a regular cinema for residents from surrounding locales, who until now had to travel for over an hour just to watch a movie.
The Visitors Center will be open for the first two months as a pilot period. During this time, entry will be free of charge. Afterwards, the center will charge a token fee, half of which will help support local farmers while the other half will be reinvested in the maintenance and development of the center.
In his address, KKL-JNF World Chairman Daniel Atar said,“The new Visitors Center we are dedicating today, at an investment of 130 million shekels, will develop regional tourism and will have a significant effect on employment and income in the entire northern region. One additional percent of the world’s millions of birdwatchers coming to the center will be a huge contribution to the Galilee’s economy. For those of us who grew up on the stories of Israel’s pioneers and KKL-JNF’s heroic swamp draining project in the 1950s, this is a very moving closing of a circle.”
Former Canadian Premier Stephen J. Harper said: “This park is one of the greatest restoration stories, just as the country of Israel has been for the Jewish people. It is a great honor that this center is named for me, and I am grateful for this beautiful event that KKL-JNF organized.”
The opening of the new Visitors Center is an example of KKL-JNF’s extensive work for Israel’s peripheral regions and is part of the framework of the Israel 2040: Moving to the Land of Tomorrow project launched by KKL-JNF two months ago, with the goal of increasing the Negev and Galilee regions by 1.5 million more residents. KKL-JNF sees the economic, social, tourism and cultural strengthening of Israel’s outlying regions as a value of supreme importance, and works unceasingly to achieve this goal.