Engaging people in Mississippi

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Audubon has education centers in Holly Springs in northern Mississippi and Moss Point on the coast. A third field-based education program is emerging along the Mississippi River in Vicksburg. Five local chapters of volunteer Audubon members also operate in the state, and a sixth chapter is re-forming. These centers and chapters are connecting people with nature every day through youth educations, field trips, interpreted nature tours, citizen science and a variety of intensive naturalist training programs.

Strawberry Plains Audubon Center in Holly Springs is the flagship education center in the state and covers about 2,500 acres. It began operation in 1998 after a generous gift from two sisters and focuses on conservation of birds, habitat and water quality in the upper Coldwater River Watershed. Work to establish the Pascagoula River Audubon Center began before Hurricane Katrina struck the coast in 2005. That center now operates from a seven-acre site near Interstate 10 and focuses on conservation in the Pascagoula River Watershed. The emerging Mississippi River Field Institute in Vicksburg is a partnership between Audubon and Tara Wildlife Inc. The Institute will offer field-based nature education and training to a variety of youth, adults and professionals, focusing on stewardship of birds, habitats and water quality in the Mississippi River Watershed.

The five Audubon chapters represent members in Jackson, along the coast, in Hattiesburg, and in the Starkville and Meridian areas. The sixth chapter is re-forming in the Corinth area.