Grange Insurance Audubon Center

Contact: Heather Starck, Center Director, Phone: 614-224-3303
Monique Bowman, Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations, Phone: 614-825-1796

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Members of the Columbus community celebrated Earth Day with a tree planting to commemorate breaking ground on the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The ceremony marked another chapter in the development of the Center as one of the city’s most significant environmental projects.

Distinguished guests, including Mayor Michael Coleman, County Commissioner Marilyn Brown, and Grange Insurance president and CEO Phil Urban, joined the Center’s director Heather Starck and Livingston Elementary students to plant a memorial tree at the site of the new nature center. The tree signifies the huge effort to reclaim the area and restore it with indigenous trees and plants to benefit wildlife and the Columbus community.

"There have been so many people and organizations that have labored to make the Center a reality, from volunteering their time to donating their resources for fundraising," said Starck. "Earth Day is the best day to celebrate a center that will contribute to sustaining our environment and preserving green space in Columbus."

The Grange Insurance Audubon Center, which will be LEED-certified, energy efficient and incorporate recycled-content materials, will be built within the Scioto Audubon Metro Park which features nature trails, bike paths, boardwalks and boating and fishing areas. The Center is located within the Scioto River-Greenlawn Dam Important Bird Area (IBA), where more than 200 species of birds have been spotted.

The Center has become a reality because of a unique partnership among numerous organizations including the City of Columbus, Franklin County, Audubon Ohio, Metro Parks and Grange Insurance. Public and private donations have contributed about $13 million on the way to the $14.5 million campaign goal.

Other major donors to the campaign include American Electric Power, Limited Brands, The Columbus Foundation, Crane Group and Family, The Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio, Guy Carpenter & Company, Nationwide, Wolfe Associates, Huntington Foundation, Battelle, Ashland, Abercrombie & Fitch, Jeffrey Company, Estabrook Trust, The Robert Weiler Family, Ann Powell Riley, Harry C. Moores Foundation, Nancy & Tad Jeffrey, Columbia Gas, Columbus Audubon and the All-Life Foundation.

The ceremony also marked the start of the public campaign for those wanting to support the Center. Donations can be made by purchasing a founding membership for $100, a paver for the Center walkway for $250 or a commemorative wall stone for $2,500.

As a part of a network of more than 100 Audubon nature centers and sanctuaries across the country, the Grange Insurance Audubon Center is Ohio’s first urban Audubon Center and is expected to open in late spring 2009. The Center will be within a five-mile radius of 112 schools and will serve as a resource to Columbus Public Schools and other schools in the area.

"The Grange Insurance Audubon Center will be a terrific asset to our community and an oasis for this area of our great city," said Urban. "I look forward to the day when Columbus is distinguished in the state and beyond for this centerpiece of education, conservation and recreation in our community."

The Grange Insurance Audubon Center will be a neighborhood-based, not-for-profit community nature center located in the Scioto Audubon Metro Park on the Whittier Peninsula just south of downtown Columbus. The Center will awaken and connect visitors to the beauty of the natural world in the heart of Columbus and inspire environmental stewardship in their daily lives. The Center is slated to open in late spring 2009. For more information about the Grange Insurance Audubon Center, visit www.GrangeInsuranceAudubonCenter.org.