Dec. 14, 2023

The Souris River cuts right through the Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot, North Dakota, and it was about to flood.

“The river flooded, and we flooded with it,” said Becky Dewitz, now CEO of the Great Plains Zoo, who was an education coordinator at the Minot zoo during the 2011 emergency.

As the river rose, the zoo animals needed to get out.

“It was insane. It was all hands on deck, all staff engaging,” Dewitz said. “We were building flood walls at night. We had over 70 percent of the animals secured in 24 hours.”

A large warehouse became a makeshift zoo. After the flood, zoos nationwide offered temporary space.

“They told us prepare for 5 feet (of water),” Dewitz said. “That was every building, every structure. We had 5 to 8 feet for three weeks.”

It took three years to rebuild and reopen. Dewitz came back as the development director and ultimately led the zoo from 2016 to 2020.

All that is to say that the woman now tasked with leading the Great Plains Zoo into its future knows what it’s like to have to deal with the unexpected twists and turns that running a zoo can bring.

While the recent city deliberation over the future of the Delbridge Museum collection has made headlines, behind the scenes the zoo has other major initiatives in play – a future master plan expected to be rolled out in the coming months and its continued integration with the Butterfly House & Aquarium, including the future of that facility and a long-promised enlarged aquarium.

“Working with Becky has been a pleasure,” said Don Kearney, the city’s parks and recreation director, who describes her as someone “easy to get along with” who “understands the bigger picture” and is dedicating to advancing the zoo’s mission.

“She has encountered quite a few opportunities and challenges in her short period of time in Sioux Falls and brings some really good experience and is able to navigate the waters really well. There’s nothing but praise for Becky on my end.”

Dakota roots

Dewitz spent her first years as a child in Faith in northwest South Dakota and began school in Clear Lake. She moved to Colorado in middle school and graduated high school in Tappen, North Dakota, between Jamestown and Bismarck.

Her brother, then the offensive line coach for SDSU football, recruited his sister to the university too.

“I was really happy with SDSU, fell in love with it,” Dewitz said, adding she changed her major multiple times and “probably should have gone into economics. I just like business administration.”

A focus on hospitality and tourism, though, proved beneficial too. After her husband’s job in wind energy led the couple to North Dakota, Dewitz learned of the opening at the Minot zoo as education coordinator.

“I never wanted a job so bad in my life,” she said. “It was unique and different and something I’d never thought of. My entire time in college I never thought of a zoo as a place to work.”

The hands-on role, though, flipped a switch in her. Reaching 10,000 kids annually and bringing animals to schools, “you see that ‘aha’ moment in their eyes,” she said, immersing herself in the entire operation.

“I was able to really get my hands on all the intricate aspects of zoo management, and I fell in love. That’s when the zoo bug bit me, and I haven’t looked back.”

The opportunity to lead the Great Plains Zoo also was a chance to come back to South Dakota, she said.

“I saw a zoo that needed a lot of love,” Dewitz said. “And I was able to provide that. But I also saw – and this is critical – I saw a very dedicated board of directors and a board that would support what I saw as necessary change to modernize our zoo.”

First priorities

Dewitz began her role in Sioux Falls in October 2020 as reaccreditation through the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, or AZA, loomed.

“We spent all of 2021 working on materials, reviewing standards, discussing where we may have gaps,” she said. “We took a very strategic approach. This team is so efficient, and they work so hard, and that’s invaluable, too, because I can’t do anything just by myself. It comes down to having experts in their own right.”

Amos Morris, executive director of the Milwaukee County Zoo in Wisconsin, has known Dewitz for 15 years.

“She is energetic, she is knowledgeable, she is up to any challenge with that positive energy,” he said. “I think she’s a very talented leader and knows how to move her organization along.”

He visited Sioux Falls to assist with accreditation-related facility needs about a year ago.

“There are some areas that really need to be updated, some deferred maintenance,” he said. “I have a mix of zoo experiences, so I’m very familiar with operating a zoo under those conditions. I do think the zoo has a lot to offer. There are some really neat things.”

While the zoo was reaccredited in 2022, there will be a midcycle review next year to gauge how the zoo is addressing its aging infrastructure.

“So we need to show we’ve been making consistent improvements,” Dewitz said. “If you plan for it, that means nothing. It has to be tangible improvements. That all takes time and concerted planning, and as part of our business planning, you want to make sure you do this tangible growth in a sustainable way.”

National role

The AZA represents more than 250 accredited zoos and aquariums nationwide. Achieving accreditation through the association means meeting “the highest standards in animal care and welfare” while providing a safe, fun educational experience, according to the organization.

Dewitz had served as an AZA inspector and on its government affairs committee when she was invited to join the board for a three-year term that began this year.

“It’s an honor, but it’s also a responsibility that takes real seriousness,” she said. “I enter into this opportunity being a spokesperson for my fellow small and medium-size zoos. It’s important for the small-zoo voices to be heard.”

Megan Ross, president and CEO of the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, serves with Dewitz on the board.

“What I think is great about Becky is that she is so grounded in thinking about how any kind of decision is going to impact all types of institutions,” Ross said, calling her “a very important voice on the board.”

Three new directors are added each year.

“When you care for living things, you evolve as you get more information about them, and the association is always moving forward to make sure that zoos have the best well-being for animals,” Ross said. “And also that we are having impact on conservation for their counterparts in the wild.”

What’s next

The coming year will bring a mix of short-term successes and long-term vision for Dewitz and the Great Plains Zoo.

A long-awaited lion exhibit is scheduled to open next summer, and a new splash pad for kids is expected to be ready to go by Memorial Day.

A working group is expected to bring forward a recommendation to the Sioux Falls City Council about the next steps for the aging Delbridge Museum taxidermy collection, which has specimens in need of repair and some that have tested positive for arsenic.

In the meantime, there’s a new mural in the lobby, warm viewing spaces throughout the zoo for winter, hot menu items to support continued concessions and a Butterfly House at Sertoma Park that will make you feel like you’re back in August.

“The weather cooperated quite nicely, so we had a strong season,” Dewitz said. “It will be better next year because of the build-out. Having the splash pad open will be really exciting.”

In a way, bringing lions back to the zoo represents a full-circle moment for Dewitz, who also helped design and build a big-cat exhibit in Minot after the flood.

In Sioux Falls, “we’re all looking at the bigger vision of it all,” she said. “How can we do right by our community, by the animals and the staff.”