Ark Encounter nest in them. Much of the wood used to build the Ark Encounter was sourced from renewable forests or trees infested by beetles. During construction, former President Jimmy Carter toured the Ark Encounter, accepting an invitation from LeRoy Troyer, president of the Troyer Group. Ark Encounter opened on July 7, 2016, a date (7/7) chosen to correspond with Genesis 7:7: "And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood." AiG also announced that, for the first 40 days and 40 nights of Ark Encounter's operation – an
Ark Encounter entitled "Kentucky Fried Osbournes", aired on A&E on November 29, 2017. Ark Encounter was designated the "Sight of the Week" for January 1–7, 2018, by Doug Kirby's RoadsideAmerica.com. The site gave Ark Encounter its highest rating ("The Best"), noting, "the Ark is an attraction that should be visited -- if only because it's unlikely that you'll ever visit anything else like it." The review characterized the ark as "a very nuts-and-bolts "American" Ark, with Noah and his clan in the mold of self-sufficient Pilgrims and innovative pioneers" (emphasis in original). AiG initially predicted yearly attendance for the attraction of 1.4-2.2