Birders get ready to “twitch” in high style. Bald Eagle State Park has opened a premiere bird watching hotel in the Pennsylvania State Park system—The Nature Inn at Bald Eagle. The 18,500-square-foot, 16-room building will provide full-service accommodations overlooking the park’s lake. This modern inn makes maximum use of green building technologies, while serving as a premier interpretive facility for bird watching.
Each room is named after a bird indigenous to the region. You can spend your nights in the Cuckoo, the Woodpecker or the Rough Groused, among others. But the Inn doesn’t just play lip service to preserving nature, the property is designed to achieve a Gold LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. Some of the green amenities of the Nature Inn include:
* Habitat restoration
* Native, water efficient landscaping
* 2,500-gallon rainwater harvesting system
* Guest room energy monitoring; viewable in each room
* On-site renewable energy; solar-thermal hot water system
* Low VOC paints, stains, adhesives, and carpeting
* Direct access to hiking and biking trails to enable and encourage healthy interaction with park resources
I can’t imagine a better way to unwind after a day of searching for a twitchable White Rumped Sandpiper or an Ash-Throated Flycatcher.
