SAN MATEO, Calif.-
The struggling Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education will remain open because two nonprofit groups, including one with ties to former Vice President Al Gore, have offered financial support, officials said.
The wildlife learning center is exploring relationships with the Gore-backed 11th Hour Project and a group of local residents, Campaign to Save Coyote Point Museum, said spokeswoman Michelle Martin.
The campaign was formed after rumors that the 11th Hour Project wanted to scrap the museum and rebuild it to educate about global warming, which is the subject of Gore's documentary film, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Based in Silicon Valley, the 11th Hour Project seeks to educate the public about climate change and how to reduce emissions of the gases blamed for warming the planet.
The group, which includes former museum board members, has raised more than $108,000 and has pledged to collect $300,000 by month's end to help cover the museum's projected deficit.
"We are interested in saving what we have here," said Linda Lanier, the campaign's co-chair.
The 11th Hour Project did not return calls seeking comment about its proposals for the museum.
The museum's board will not decide how it will move forward until next month at the earliest, Martin said. Its future plans could involve relationships with one of the two groups or both, she said.
The 52-year-old museum, which overlooks San Francisco Bay, each year attracts more than 100,000 visitors, including 20,000 schoolchildren, to its wildlife exhibits, classrooms and interactive displays.
