Building momentum for environmental education across the country

The Audubon Strategic Plan envisioned a state office in every state and an Audubon Center in every community. This simple vision will take time, but it is how we will "create a culture of conservation in communities" across the country. There has been much publicity given to the new state offices being established. Almost quietly, by comparison, new Audubon Centers are launching across America. Here are four of the newest:

Maryland: On Sunday, 7 June 1998, the NAS Board of Directors dedicated the Jean Ellen du Pont Shehan Audubon Sanctuary on Chesapeake Bay's Eastern Shore. The property's extraordinary natural values, with its nearly 8 miles of shoreline, its grasslands, forests, and marshes, together with its proximity to the major metropolitan centers of Baltimore and Washington, D.C., made it ideally situated to become an Audubon environmental education Center.

The property was a gift from Jean Shehan, who decided to pass on to future generations this magnificent legacy. This extraordinary gift of land included a substantial management endowment. This will allow Audubon to conduct environmental education programs aimed at children, their teachers and parents, almost immediately. Mrs. Shehan is looking forward to "having the pleasure of seeing children from both rural and urban areas profit from the education programs being developed here."

Contact: Rick Leader, Director, Pickering Creek Environmental Center; ph: 410/822-4903; e-mail: rleader@pickeringcreek.org.

Mississippi: In March 1998, Mrs. Margaret Shackelford gave the NAS a substantial management endowment to complement the approximately 2,400 acre Strawberry Plains Plantation that her family had earlier given to the Society. She made the gift in order to establish the Strawberry Plains Audubon Sanctuary and Bird Conservation Center in Holly Springs, Mississippi. The gift also provided funds to launch Audubon's Mississippi State Office.

Mrs. Shackelford had been planning to make her gift to Audubon a posthumous bequest. However, she changed her mind sometime after visiting Mrs. Marie Aull in Dayton, Ohio. Mrs. Aull gave the Aullwood Audubon Center and Farm to Audubon nearly 40 years ago. Mrs. Aull had originally planned to make her gift a bequest, and changed her mind. Now 100 years old, she has enjoyed watching over 200,000 children go through Aullwood's programs over the past 4 decades.

Mrs. Shackelford's gift will lead to environmental education programs and bird conservation initiatives being launched not only in northern Mississippi, but throughout the rapidly developing Gulf Coast.

Contact: Jesse Grantham, Mississippi State Executive Director; ph: 601/252-4143; e-mail: jgrantham@audubon.org.

Nebraska: In June 1998, Audubon purchased a magnificent 610-acre parcel of tall-grass prairie near Lincoln, Nebraska to establish the Audubon Spring Creek Prairie Center. A local bank loaned Audubon the entire $1,040,000 purchase price. Audubon has now launched a $3 million fundraising campaign in Nebraska to pay off the loan, to build an education Center on the property, and to endow program operations.

Contact: Dave Sands, Executive Director, Nebraska State Office; ph: 402/475-1177; e-mail: dsands@audubon.org.

Wyoming: Thanks to a generous gift from Jim and Audrey Bailey, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has established a 400+ acre Garden Creek Preserve on Casper Mountain just outside of the City of Casper. TNC has leased the property to the Murie Audubon Society for $1.00 per year to establish the Garden Creek Learning Center on the property, using an existing building as the base of operation.

At the same time, National Audubon, working with the Wyoming Audubon Council, raised funds to hire a Wyoming State director. The new state director will be located in Casper and will serve as the director of the Garden Creek Learning Center. Eventually, the state director will be expected to establish other similar Audubon environmental education Centers in other communities in Wyoming.

Contact: Carol Warden, Director of Field Support; ph: 303/415-0130; e-mail: cwarden@audubon.org.

For More Info on Audubon Centers, contact Victoria Shaw, Senior Vice President for Education and Communication, ph: 212/979-3090; e-mail: vshaw@audubon.org.