SALT LAKE CITY — The Great Salt Lake Nature Center at Farmington Bay will be getting a new name to honor a wildlife advocate now facing a terminal disease.
Robert Hasenyager is a former Division of Wildlife Resource employee and the executive director of Utah Wildlife in Need, which is non-profit foundation.The center will now bear his name, to honor him and his commitment to wildlife education. The ceremony was held Saturday morning.
The center will now be called the Robert N. Hasenyager Great Salt Lake Nature Center. Hasenyager said there are many people who make a difference for wildlife, and he is grateful to be among their number.
“Projects like this take a lot of people to make them happen,” he said. “And to be identified as an individual who played a key role in that, I’m just overwhelmed. There are so many people who should be thanked other than myself, that to be honored in such a way is just marvelous.”
Steve Swindle is the chairman of the Utah Wildlife and Conservation Foundation, and he said the wildlife center allows thousands of people to experience wetlands and nature each year. He said the center was the work of numerous people and organizations, but Hasenyager was one of the driving forces behind it.
“Bob Hasenyager, who is the executive director of our foundation, has really been the catalyst, the spark plug, who has made this all happen,” Swindle said. “Bob is ill, and we wanted to rename the center in Bob’s honor.”
