Zoos typically showcase the exotic: rare or unusual species that people generally would never encounter.

But a meandering central Ohio creek will be the focus of a new Columbus Zoo & Aquarium exhibit and first-time partnership among local organizations.

The Ohio Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Metro Parks and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, along with other financial backers, will sponsor a Darby Creek Watershed exhibit that is expected to open early next year.

Metro Parks is contributing $50,000 to the project, which will provide information about the watershed and its rare and endangered species of fish and mussels, said Peg Hanley, Metro Parks spokeswoman.

The zoo's current Ohio Wetlands Exhibit, opened in the mid-1990s, needs to be repaired and updated, said Doug Warmolts, the zoo's assistant director of living collections.

The exhibit has information about Lake Erie marshes and kettle lakes, which are remnants of glaciers. The Big Darby Creek ecology will be added, he said. The project is expected to cost at least $300,000.

"While the zoo is focused on wild places globally, an overriding message we want to convey is that this is a gem in our backyard," Warmolts said of the Big Darby, a state and national scenic river. "It's an ecologically valuable location that's so close to us that people have heard of it but probably never been there."

Along with aquariums and other displays, the new exhibit might have a small theater in a canoe where short movies will be shown from the vantage point of a swimming otter or soaring eagle.

The Columbus Foundation will manage funds as donations come in, said Anthony Sasson, The Nature Conservancy's freshwater-
conservation coordinator.

"The 38 rare species (fish and mussels) are much more rare than what you'd see in your backyard," Sasson said. "It's one of the few features at the zoo that features Ohio's biological diversity. This is local stuff, close to home that may be more unusual than people realize."

dnarciso@dispatch.com