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Media Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Toyota
Donates $1 Million to Endow Prospect Park Audubon Center Brooklyn, NY, April 16, 2002 - What better way to celebrate the April 26th birthdays of John James Audubon and Frederick Law Olmsted than a ribbon-cutting for the country's first urban Audubon Center in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The Prospect Park Audubon Center will provide New York City children, their families and other visitors with hands-on nature education experiences. The urban-based center will expand the traditional definition of "the environment" to include the immense ecological diversity found in America's city parks. Special guests on opening day will include New York State Senator Chuck Schumer and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. "The Prospect Park Audubon Center is the cornerstone of our new '2020 Vision,' our plan to create 1,000 nature centers across the country by the year 2020," explained National Audubon President and CEO John Flicker. "Audubon has made a commitment to partner with communities and organizations throughout the nation to help create and sustain Audubon Centers that reflect the values, concerns, and interests of local residents. These centers will teach and inspire people to preserve their local environment, wherever that may be." Toyota Motor North America, Inc. helped make the Prospect Park Audubon Center a reality with a generous million-dollar contribution to the Toyota Endowment Fund for Environmental Education at Prospect Park. "We are pleased to partner with Audubon to create enduring projects that inform and inspire communities," said Veronica Pollard, group vice president, Corporate Communications, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. "The Prospect Park Audubon Center is an investment in the Brooklyn Community, and Toyota is proud to support it." Toyota has also donated one million dollars to endow the new Audubon Center in Los Angeles, which is scheduled to open in September 2003. "We owe our great success to strategic partnerships with organizations like the Prospect Park Alliance and local community groups," said Executive Director of Audubon New York David J. Miller. "Our innovative exhibits and programs will help people connect with nature using the natural resources found right in the park." "The opening of the Prospect Park Audubon Center marks the culmination of a two-year process to develop and launch a new breed of nature education centers capable of serving Brooklyn's more than two million residents," said Executive Director of the Prospect Park Audubon Center Cheryl Bartholow. "Prospect Park is an urban oasis for both birds and people, making it a perfect location for an environmental education facility that can bring Brooklynites face to face with nature." Prospect Park, which was designed by world-famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, is undergoing a general restoration, including renovating its historic Boathouse at a cost of more than of $5 million, to serve as the home of the new center. On opening day, people will view interactive exhibits, including a real "bird's eye view" of the park, walk nature trails, take electric boat tours on the Lullwater - part of the park's waterway -and sign up for guided tours. Events will be taking place throughout the park all weekend to celebrate the opening of the new center including live raptor shows and performances by dancers from the Red Hawk Indian Arts Council. Visitors will also be able to build their own bird nest, or create feather masks to wear in a Birdie Parade. The 526-acre park is just minutes from downtown Manhattan, and includes a 60-acre lake, a 90-acre meadow, and Brooklyn's last natural forest. The park's varied habitat makes it an important stopover point for migratory birds, and as a result it has been designated an Important Bird Area by Audubon New York. Prospect Park also boasts a carousel, children's museum, skating rink, bandshell, and zoo, and receives nearly six million visitors annually. "The Prospect Park Audubon Center is a center for environment and for nature, a cultural center and the heart of the park all at once," said President of the Prospect Park Alliance Tupper Thomas. "We want to make everyone feel that this is their center, and that they can become involved with nature and with science in a way they may not have felt was possible before. We want to make everyone into a 'citizen scientist,' someone who will want to become interested in the park environment and will help maintain and preserve the park as a natural habitat." "Teachers and families will no longer feel that they have to travel miles and miles to see and learn about nature," said Director of Education for Audubon New York Chuck Remington. "All of the programs and exhibits have been designed with the help of local teachers so that many of the activities can easily be integrated into the school curriculum. Of course, all these activities were designed with fun in mind as well. Major studies have shown that children who are taught about the environment and nature do better in school because it instills positive curiosity about the world and about each child's role in it." "We hope that the Prospect Park Audubon Center will ultimately become a major cultural destination and gateway for families and will also stand as a model for other urban nature centers," concluded Ms. Thomas. Founded in 1905 and supported by 600,000 members in more than 500 chapters throughout the Americas, the National Audubon Society conserves and restores natural ecosystems, focusing on birds and other wildlife, and their habitats, for the benefit of humanity and the Earth's biological diversity. The Prospect Park Alliance is a public/private partnership with the
City of New York which, through fundraising and advocacy, furthers the
restoration and preservation of Prospect Park, and the development of
the Park as a resource for all the people of New York City. # # # For more information about the opening, please contact Glenn Phillips, Director, Prospect Park Audubon Center at (718) 965-8945. Audubon New York is the state program of the National Audubon Society.
Also, please see the following related pages: The Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse page: http://ny.audubon.org/ppac.htm Back to Media Releases ~ Back to Audubon New York Home Page |
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