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CRAB ORCHARD LAKE (WSIL)---Big things are in the works for the Crab Orchard Wildlife Refuge.

"We're actually really excited about this. We just moved into our new headquarters in March of last year, and that was phase 1. And now we're starting phase 2 which is a new Visitor's Center," said Visitor Services Manager, Neil Vincent.

The building has a two part plan.The headquarters portion is completed, but the Visitor's Center plans are now in motion.

"But we'll have two classrooms, a huge exhibit area, an auditorium for book sales and a storage area for our volunteer program," said Vincent. 

Crab Orchard is one of the most visited refuges in the nation, with over one million visitors each year and about 40 to 45 thousand people coming to the visitor center.

"So we think with this new visitor center and with other improvements that's going on on the refuge, we can even see a larger increase in visitation," said Vincent. 

One of the other big changes is coming to the Crab Orchard Marina.

"We're looking at putting that on a concession contract, and that's basically where someone on the private sector would come in and run that marina for us. And that would be anywhere between a 5 and 20 year contract, depending on that proposal," said Vincent. 

The refuge hopes whoever gets the bid for the marina will make improvements to the area and provide a better experience to those who use the lake.

"It's something that as fishing and wildlife services, this is not something that we have individuals that have backgrounds in this. And we found out that concession operations can provide better customer service to our visitors," said Vincent. 

The bids for the visitors' center and the marina are still open to contractors.