The cliff house was originally envisioned by Anderson as a sort of a cliff on wheels that could be driven to a release location. This design was not practical, and so the cliff on wheels became the cliff house. At left, Dave Kester and John Dingley, two Project members, attach a rock, wood, and fiberglass cliff to Anderson's house.

The cliff was designed to imprint chicks to rock face. Chicks are cared for with minimal human contact and the cliff faces a natural view. Hardware cloth, a concession to maurading racoons, covers the front of the cage.