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The St. Louis Audubon Center will combine the strength of Audubon with the support of local partners to connect people with the power, beauty, and natural diversity of our nation’s greatest river – the Mississippi.

The St. Louis Audubon Center will be part of a special network of Audubon Centers nationwide. It will include a nature center with a passenger riverboat located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. As one of the most important migratory flyways on the planet, the Center’s location at the great rivers’ confluence will present ample and compelling opportunities to employ Audubon’s century of experience in using birds to connect people to their natural heritage.

Hands-on, experiential learning opportunities to explore and engage in conservation activities will provide the framework for the Center’s educational offerings. The Center will also be used as a staging area for boat trips, a meeting place for confluence partners, a base for events that can connect people of all ages and backgrounds to their rivers, as well as an example of ecology-focused construction practices. The building will be designed and constructed to meet LEED-certified "green building" standards.

The Center’s offerings will include riverboat voyages, kayaking and canoeing experiences, a land and water based birding trail, and other riverside activities dedicated to conservation of the big rivers and their wildlife habitats. The ecology-centered riverboat operation will be the only one of its kind in the St. Louis region. A birding trail spanning both land and water based sites in Missouri and Illinois will highlight the region’s connection to the Mississippi River flyway.

Our goal is to open the Center, complete with riverboat and programming, by 2012. Prior to 2012, we will conduct pilot programming in collaboration with our partners in the confluence area.

Purpose of the Center

Audubon is committed to protecting important habitats for birds and other wildlife. The activities of the St. Louis Audubon Center will promote a deeper appreciation of the rivers and their significance to a great diversity of wildlife, including critical habitat for hundreds of bird species. Connecting the people of the St. Louis region--one of the largest metropolitan areas on the Mississippi River--to the natural resources of their great rivers will also help to promote public policy for a healthy Mississippi River, from headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico.

Education and Outreach

We plan to provide year round hands-on activities that foster a greater understanding of the rivers and the birds and wildlife they sustain. For example:

• Tours of our nation’s two greatest rivers aboard the passenger riverboat
• Fun and interactive exhibits about the Mississippi River Flyway
• Hands-on learning experiences such as seining, water testing, and wetland restoration
• Nature hikes, kayaking, and bird watching
• Annual Bird Festival
• Connections to conservation activities
• Interpretive river ecology curriculum for area schools and groups

Center Cost

The center, boat, docking, birding trails and program development will cost roughly $7.5 million, which includes a $2 million endowment.

Partners

We are proud to work with many agencies and governmental organizations in our efforts to establish the St. Louis Audubon Center. Some of our partners include:

Confluence Greenway
Great Rivers Greenway District
Missouri Botanical Garden
Missouri Department of Conservation
Missouri Department of Natural Resources
National Great Rivers Research and Education Center
St. Louis Audubon Society
Trailnet
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

How can you help?

Audubon has raised nearly $2,000,000 in funding to establish the St. Louis Audubon Center. You can help by making a donation today to help with start-up and construction of the Center. Prominent naming opportunities exist.

For more information, contact:

Patricia Hagen, PhD, Executive Director
St. Louis Audubon Center
3940 Connecticut Street
St. Louis, MO 63116

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