A higher calling for the Minnesota Zoo

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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True to the spirit of the Minnesota Zoo, its new attraction — the Treetop Trail — does not overwhelm visitors with a lot of animal sightings. But also like the zoo itself, the new trail offers rewards of its own.

To be sure, a trip to any modern zoo is likely to be a hit-or-miss proposition. Gone are the days when animals could be kept in an enclosed space small enough that they had no cover from curious human eyes. Even St. Paul's Como Park Zoo, an older and more traditional institution, allows its animals more room to move than it once did.

Today's zoos are all about being defenders of wildlife, and that means giving their charges a bit of privacy. It also means offering patrons some education about the animals, their habits, habitats and ecosystems. If the animal at hand, or not at hand, happens to be naturally reclusive or skilled at camouflage — well, then, lesson learned.

Even the indoor parts of the Minnesota Zoo can sometimes seem strangely devoid of animals. That's not a bad thing, because it demonstrates that the animals' welfare has priority. But in the really distinctive areas of the zoo — that is, the outdoor spaces, with prairie grasses and native trees and abundant cover — human visitors have sometimes trudged long distances for only fleeting glances. In the human-animal interaction, the animals have seemed to have the upper paw.

The Treetop Trail, which opened last weekend, may give visitors a leg up. In a stroke of recycling ingenuity reminiscent of railroad-to-bike-trail transformation, the zoo has repurposed its long-dead monorail track as a pedestrian walkway.

It's a significant improvement. It adds a year-round, accessible platform for visiting some of the most beautiful areas of the zoo. "The Treetop Trail is a treasure and a true gift to Minnesotans," Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan said at the opening ceremony, and her remarks seemed apt.

For 1.25 miles, people can walk or wheelchair at heights ranging from a few feet to 32 feet off the ground, giving them an elevated angle from which to view some of the zoo's most impressive animals.

Or not. When an editorial writer hit the trail on Monday, he eagerly looked for tigers. Nope. Then for moose. Nope.

Happily, his record soon improved. Asian wild horses! Bactrian camels! A herd of bison! And near the end of our walk, we spotted a bear. At least, we thought it was a bear. It was a long way away, so it was hard to be sure.

Signs along the trail encouraged us to practice mindfulness, to look at nature with a sense of wonder, to see the outdoors as a source of health and wellness. The advice seemed appropriate, because there were moments among the treetops when we were suddenly struck by the beauty of the place. When you come upon a small lake that supports a vast carpet of lily pads, or a pond with turtles swimming and sunning themselves, it hardly matters whether the pads were planted by a grounds crew or the turtles arrived under their own power. Children excitedly counted the turtles anyway.

The Minnesota Zoo sets a high value on conservancy. That mission is well served by a trail that blurs the boundary between Minnesota's most famous zoo and its abundant natural beauty. As we drove back to Minneapolis, we crossed the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, where egrets hunted among the river shallows. The zoo was a dozen miles behind us, but we counted the egrets all the same.