CROSSLAKE, MINN. — An $18.5 million facility dedicated to the state bird is expected to break ground this fall and draw 200,000 visitors annually once doors to the Nation Loon Center open here in 2026.

Minnesota boasts many national and international wildlife centers, dedicated to beloved species including the eagle, wolf, owl and bear. But before the common loon gets its stage, millions more in federal funding and community donations are needed to see the project to fruition.

"The loon is iconic. We see it on everything from the new City Connect Twins uniform, the state seal. The Minnesota United Football Club is the Loons. So it's kind of strange that there wasn't a center dedicated to the loon," said Jon Mobeck, the center's executive director. "But that's a void we're happy to fill."

A "help us answer the call of the loon" fundraiser is underway with a $4.8 million goal. Meanwhile, U.S. Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar are requesting $1.7 million in federal appropriations for the city of Crosslake for construction of the National Loon Center.

Mobeck said the endorsements of Smith and Klobuchar serve as a recognition of how the facility will help the rural economy, freshwater conservation and loon preservation.

For now, the Loon Center has a home at the Nest, a small storefront in Crosslake Town Square, where since 2017 staff have been educating the public and advocating for conservation, including the end of lead fishing tackle.

Lead poisoning is estimated to cause 25% of adult common loon deaths nationally, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Loons swallow pebbles to assist in digestion and often mistakenly swallow lead tackle. Loons also ingest lead by eating fish that are carrying lead jigs and sinkers.

Last year, the Star Tribune reported that lead legislation has percolated and raised difficult questions for decades. Bills have been introduced to ban lead ammunition and lead in some small fishing tackle, citing the deadly effect on wildlife, specifically loons. But they have not passed amid questions about cost, among other things.

Ed Hahn, with the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, said he sees many parallels between the loon and eagle centers.

"When the National Eagle Center was founded — roll back the clock here about 25 years — the bald eagle was still on the endangered species list," he said. "Thankfully, today it's not."

Hahn said the loon faces some of the same types of threats that bald eagles do, specifically with lead poisoning. The group working on the loon center can draw attention to that, he said.

"We do not want the loon to end up in a position that the bald eagle was," Hahn said.

The Nation Eagle Center opened on Main Street in 1999, before the current facility was built in 2007. In 2021 and 2022, it was expanded and renovated. Hahn expects the same success story with the loon center.

"To keep adding these specialty wildlife centers to the state is certainly a boon," he said, adding that he wasn't sure how that compares with other states "but it certainly is impressive that we have all of these international and national centers that educate about specific types of wildlife that we enjoy here in Minnesota."

The dream of a National Loon Center became reality in 2019 when it received a $4 million launch grant from Minnesota's Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. In 2023, it received an additional $2.5 million as part of the state's latest capital investment bill.

Mobeck said the 15,000-square-foot, three-story, net-zero-energy facility will create dozens of jobs while incorporating an array of indoor and outdoor educational exhibits. The 10-acre campus in Crosslake with feature a bird sanctuary, boardwalks and docks.