Cargill Makes Presentation to Ozark Natural Science Center

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Ozark Natural Science Center

First posted on 06-09-2010

Cargill, Inc. will present a fleet of eight canoes manufactured in Arkansas by Buffalo Canoes of Jasper to the Ozark Natural Science Center on Thursday, June 10 at the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville.

The Cargill Water Matters Mini-Grant Program administered by The Conservation Fund along with the corporate and national offices of Cargill elected to award $8,000 to the Ozark Natural Science Center for the purchase of canoes and equipment for water-related programming.

The Conservation Fund, “America’s Partner in Conservation,” wished ONSC every success in its “innovative conservation endeavor” according to an award letter from president Lawrence A. Selzer of Arlington, Virginia. Locally, the grant was orchestrated by Stephanie Burroughs of Cargill, Inc. in Springdale along with the local Cargill Cares council, which oversees and selects grant recipients.

ONSC Executive Director Bethany Stephens said of the grant: “The Ozark Natural Science Center is honored to have been selected for this grant for the purchase of eight canoes, a trailer and related equipment. The rental of such equipment each year for our programs and summer camps has been a significant expense, and this grant will allow us to continue getting kids from Arkansas and beyond on our scenic waterways and, in turn, help them learn to appreciate and conserve these special places. We have unprecedented interest in this summer’s River Odyssey camps and can’t wait to launch the new canoe fleet!”

Cargill Agricultural Analyst/Cargill Cares Chair Stephanie Burroughs reiterated “Water is a vital resource for our business and an increasingly important topic in our communities. Cargill’s Water Matters program is a comprehensive effort to raise awareness and encourage involvement among our employees and in our communities to protect our water resources. With partners such as The Conservation Fund, Ground Water Foundation and Living Lands and Waters, thousands of Cargill employees have participated in hundreds of local water-quality protection, preservation and education programs in communities where we do business.”

The Ozark Natural Science Center is a private, non-profit field science education facility on the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission’s Bear Hollow Natural Area in rural Madison county between Eureka Springs and Huntsville. ONSC offers summer camps and adult and family programming, but is best known as the site of life-altering school excursions for more than 4,000 public and private school students from Arkansas and beyond each year. The ONSC campus includes three lodges, indoor and outdoor classrooms, an observation deck and nearly eight miles of maintained hiking trails. ONSC employs a team of twenty two administrative, food service and maintenance staff including field staff with backgrounds ranging from aquatic resources to zoology.

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