This ‘nature boy’ loved Farmington Bay. New access built in his memory gets you close to its wildlife.

Farmington • The quiet rush of water and the swooping calls of swallows fill the air at the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Wildlife Education Center. Bellowing red-winged blackbirds call out with their sharp, robotic cries. Great blue herons gather in their rookery, standing tall above the bay like watchful queens.

Everything about this place reminds Marlene Hasenyager of her late husband, Robert “Bob” Hasenyager, a longtime employee of the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. His memory lingers in the sight and sounds of the wetlands, she said, even in the earthy scent of the Great Salt Lake.

“It’s kind of my happy place,” Hasenyager said. Her husband advocated for the center before he died in 2013 and spent many years protecting Farmington Bay and helping people, especially kids, enjoy it.

Now, years later, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has opened a new viewing platform — with mounted scopes for bird-watching — at the Eccles Wildlife Center and a 1.6-mile trail named in his honor.

The newly completed trail winds through the wetlands, connecting the educational buildings and leading to the scenic viewing platform. The boardwalk and trails allow visitors to experience the marshland up close without disturbing it — something Bob believed in strongly, his wife said.

“The young men he worked with in our neighborhood dubbed him ‘nature boy’ because he wanted everyone to love all things wild,” Hasenyager said. “He wanted future generations to know that nature needs to be protected and appreciated. And he saw this place, just minutes from downtown Farmington, as a vehicle for doing that.”

She said she believes Bob’s connection to Farmington Bay began nearly five decades ago during annual duck hunting trips with his father. Those early experiences sparked his deep appreciation for the bay and his desire to make it a special place where Utah children could discover nature close to home.

Bob founded Utah Wildlife in Need, which helped establish the Great Salt Lake Nature Center at Farmington Bay. The original center was modest — made up of two portable classrooms and a small boardwalk — constructed through Bob’s efforts alongside local high school students and wildlife staff.

He later partnered with nearby school districts to bring students to the center for hands-on lessons about the bay’s fragile environment. Although Bob died before the current Eccles Wildlife Education Center was finished in 2018, the facility stands on the site of those first classrooms, Hasenyager said.

“He died knowing he had left a place his neighbors in Farmington, school groups, bird watchers and all people could come to hear the sound of birds,” she said, “to smell the smells of the Great Salt Lake and to enjoy this little piece of nature right in the heart of an urban area.”

The Eccles Wildlife Education Center now sees close to 30,000 visitors annually, said UDWR Director Riley Peck. It serves as an entry point into the Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, an 18,000-acre wetland complex teaming with life — from waterfowl and shorebirds in spring to bald eagles and harriers in winter.

“It really is a little piece of heaven,” Peck said, “that we get to participate in.”

Venice Garner, a volunteer at the education center, said she’s seen time and again how visitors fall in love with birds here.

“I did myself,” Garner said. “The minute I got out here in the beauty and the peace and quiet. The sound of the red-winged blackbirds is amazing to be greeted by, and the chorus of frogs, to be greeted by them is just amazing. It’s a special place to be.”

She believes that the more Utahns experience Farmington Bay, the more likely they are to care about protecting it — just like Bob did.