A county reforestation camp turned zoo, 11 miles north of downtown: what lives there, what it costs, and where to eat after.
The NEW Zoo Green Bay sits in a forest that had to be replanted, inside a county reforestation camp on Reforestation Road about 11 miles north of the city center. The mailing address says Green Bay, so plan for the drive. NEW stands for Northeastern Wisconsin.
This guide covers the zoo's history, what lives there, the 2026 hours and prices, the zip lines and canopy walk next door, and where to eat afterward. It sits alongside the wider list of days out in Green Bay.
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A forest fire, a county camp and the first bear cub
The land was logged and then farmed, and the sandy soil defeated many of those farms, so the county ended up owning it over unpaid taxes. A forest fire in 1948, started by sparks from a passing train, destroyed most of the remaining trees. By 1950 the county's Reforestation Camp had planted more than 250,000 native pine, spruce and cedar seedlings. The zoo began in 1952 with a first animal pen holding white-tailed deer, a porcupine, an orphaned black bear cub and timber wolf pups.
In December 1951 Aurelia Barth was hired to run the camp after Harry Barth died, and the zoo's history page says she became the first woman in U.S. history to supervise male inmates. Brown County took the zoo off its tax levy in 1985, which cut its funding. The zoo says it is one of only seven of the 218 AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums in the country that get no local or regional public tax support for their annual budget. The Adventure Park opened in 2014, which is when the name grew to include it, and the Neil Anderson Canopy Tour followed in 2022.
What lives at the NEW Zoo
The Wisconsin thread is real, though. A July 2026 FOX 11 report on the zoo's Fourth of July weekend featured a pair of trumpeter swans with three cygnets and a resident bald eagle named Sierra, aged 27. It also featured four American red wolf pups, and the zoo director called the red wolf the world's most endangered canid. Red wolves are not a Wisconsin animal: about 30 remain in the wild, mostly in North Carolina.
A September 2026 FOX 11 visit also found snowy owlets and two lynx kittens that were not yet on public display. The kittens were expected to be visible in about another month, so ask at the gate. Reviewers keep describing the zoo as large enough to explore but not overwhelming, especially with small children, and one cold-weather visitor found several enclosures being cleaned and some animals indoors, so a milder day helps. One April 2026 visitor found the zoo doable in a couple of hours, or a full day if you linger, and liked the walkway with windows in the floor for seeing the animals from another angle.
NEW Zoo hours and prices for 2026
The zoo's hours page for the 2026 season lists 9am to 6pm daily from April 1 to October 31, and 9am to 4pm daily from November 1 to March 31. Some online sources show Thursday as closed, but the zoo's own page says daily, so trust the zoo. Admission is free under 3, $10 for ages 3 to 15, $14.50 for ages 16 and up and $11 for seniors 62 and over. Admission is half price in January and February, and from 4 to 6pm on Wednesdays in June, July and August, bought at the door.
The zoo's home page currently lists 9am to 4pm on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve (confirm before you go), and free admission on Veterans Day, November 11. The terms for the free day are cut off on that page, so check them before you go.
Adventure Park and the Canopy Tour
The Adventure Park next door has ziplines, a ropes course, a climbing wall and a Kids Kourse. Wikipedia says the zip lines start from the camp's historic fire tower. The Zipline Adventure is $17.95 and takes about 35 minutes, the Ropes Course Adventure is $24.95, and the Complete Adventure with both is $35.95 for about two to two and a half hours. Those three are for ages 6 and up with a 260 pound limit, while the Kids Kourse is $10.95 for ages 3 to 6. The season is the catch: daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, weekends only until October 31, group bookings only in spring, and closed to the public from November 1 to March 31.
The Canopy Tour is a treetop walk from the Adventure Park to the zoo that crosses over animal habitats. On its own it costs $8 for ages 16 and up and $6 for ages 3 to 15 and seniors, or $20.50 for an adult combined with zoo admission. It stays open year-round with a last tour at 3:30pm in winter, and it closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The page does not say how long the walk takes.
Parking, access and encounters
The zoo has a free parking lot, a wheelchair-accessible entrance and accessible parking, and it accepts cards. Check with the zoo about pets and service animals. A reviewer also mentions a petting area with alpacas. For food, the zoo's holiday notices name the Mayan Restaurant, and an April 2026 visitor reported hot dogs, burgers, corn dogs, fries, chicken nuggets and ice cream, with nothing for vegetarians.
Paid encounters cost extra: the Snow Leopard VIP Experience is $60 for up to six people at 10am daily, and the Giraffe Behind-the-Scenes Encounter, with private feeding, is $100 for up to six people aged 8 and up. The zoo asks for 72 hours' notice on the giraffe encounter.
Where to eat near the NEW Zoo
The distances from the zoo are modest, but nothing is on the doorstep, so pick a dinner stop before you leave. Chambers Hill on Velp Avenue is about 4 miles away, serving 12-inch pizzas, broasted chicken, a Friday fish fry and dart boards. It lists hours of 11am to 2am Tuesday to Saturday, and reviewers are split on speed and seasoning.
River's Bend, about 7 miles away on the river, has been a family-run supper club since 1974, with prime rib, a salad bar and a Sunday brunch buffet from 10am to 2pm. Vickery Village in Suamico, about 3 miles from the zoo, is mostly a wedding and events venue, but it says shops share the grounds and lists hours from 11am Tuesday to Saturday. For a bigger choice, the Green Bay restaurants cluster around downtown and Lambeau, which are about 11 miles south.
A second outdoor stop in the same trip could be the Green Bay Botanical Garden, about 9 miles south of the zoo. Plan a couple of hours at the zoo itself, add the canopy walk or an encounter if you want more, and treat the Adventure Park as a summer and early fall extra. However you fill the day, it starts where this page did, in a burned-over forest that Brown County replanted and that now holds moose, river otters and red wolf pups.
Frequently asked questions
Published August 17, 2026
