Sibley Nature Center Expansion – Status & Plans

Photos of the construction progress will be available via this page...please check back regularly!

Help the Sibley Nature Center reach expansion goals
[June 11, 2008]

The Sibley Nature Center opened its doors in 1987. Over 400,000 people have attended programs presented by Sibley staff. Children of kids that came in the early days are now coming to the Center. Since 2005 the Sibley Nature Center has grown exponentially in size, budget, services, and programs. The center has grown into a major asset for anyone interested in furthering their knowledge of the flora, fauna, natural and human history of the land on which we live: the Llano Estacado. Thousands of school kids and their teachers visit the center each year at little or no cost. Over 55,000 separate computers have visited our website in the last year. An average of 5000 people visits the Sibley website each week, for it is truly the best introduction to West Texas available anywhere!

We teach residents and visitors to West Texas about the ecology and history of the Llano Estacado in the following ways:

• We give school and civic programs in an area from Ozona to Pecos to Amarillo to Sweetwater. An average of 12,000 individuals attend an average of 325 programs yearly. Youth education is our priority.
  
  
• We have a weekly column in the Midland Reporter Telegram (22,000 subscribers)
  
  
• The Sibley Center maintains a website with almost 600 essays and 110 photoessays with 4000+ photographs that provide a wealth of information about our home, the Llano Estacado.
  
  
• Each month an average of 110 people drop in, 175 people call us, and 120 people email us with questions about regional ecology and history.
  
  
• We promote water conservation through sales of drought-adapted plants at our greenhouse, a section on our website, and by presentations.
  
  
• We sponsor the Llano Estacado chapter of the Texas Master Naturalists offering ten full days of in-depth education to adults. We also offer the Sibley Academy, a series of adult classes.
  
  
• Our Permian Basin Outing Club takes weekend trips each month, canoeing, caving, rappelling, and hiking at locations in West Texas and New Mexico.

Please consider joining us as we establish the Sibley Nature Center as West Texas’ finest facility providing experiential opportunities to learn about our wonderful home! We are on the home stretch of our fundraising for a million-dollar improvement project. Please send your donation to 1307 E. Wadley, Midland 79706. If you would like to learn more about our project than what is described below, please call Burr at 684-6827, or email us at bwilliams@sibleynaturecenter.org.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department issued the Sibley Nature Center a $500,000 challenge grant. Many local foundations, corporations, and individuals have contributed over $350,000 so far to help us meet the goal. The grant doubles the money given by our local supporters until the $500,000 amount is reached. Significant donors will have major aspects of the Sibley experience named after them and their names will appear on special plaques throughout the facility. We will also list the major donors on our website on the home page.

In teaching about the ecology and history of the Llano Estacado, we focus on the eight major habitats of the region. Our project will enable us to better teach students and citizens about the habitats. Three of the habitats (sanddune, shallow caliche soil, and canyons) will be represented by new gardens near the building. A fourth habitat, the urban forest, is already represented by the Aubrey and Jean Reid xeriscape garden in front of the building. Two new ethnobotanical gardens will demonstrate the many plants that settlers and Indians used in every day life for food, medicine, and shelter. Signage will be erected to further a visitor’s understanding of the role of the plants within their habitat, and their role in a human’s life.

The other four habitats are represented along the trail; playas, draws, mesquite brushland, and alkali. New shelters complete with signage and benches will provide a place for visitors to learn more about those habitats of the Llano Estacado. Each habitat has unique plants and animals that thrive in their specific conditions. Learning about the habitats of our home helps residents and visitors “read the land.”

Between the building and our greenhouse, a barn with a corral will provide added storage and a location to present programs on buffalo, longhorn cattle, and allow annual petting zoo experiences. A teaching pavilion with introductory signage about the habitats and the trails and a firepit will increase locations for programs.

On the west side of the existing building a shaded courtyard with displays about the iconic people, animals, and plants of the Llano Estacado will provide a fresh welcoming entry into the building. On the east side of the building a wildlife observation room with one-way glass (and outdoor microphones) will face a xeriscape demonstration garden providing close examination of local birds, insects, and small animals.

One of the walls of the barn, and one wall of the teaching pavilion are geology walls. On the south end of the new barn and corrals, a rock face will be attached to the wall, using the red Triassic rocks and layers of gypsum. This will be part of the “Canyons and breaks” habitat display. The plants of the habitat will surround the Triassic wall. On the west end of the teaching pavilion a rock face demonstrating the fossils of the Cretaceous period will be erected. Plants representing the shallow soil habitat will be planted surrounding the wall. Fossils of these time periods will be embedded into rock walls. Signage accompanying these displays will enable residents and visitors to learn where fossil-bearing strata are located.

In front of the Sibley Nature Center building a shaded courtyard will create a new entryway to learning about the Llano Estacado. Each of the twelve columns of the shade structure will have a display about an “icon” of the Llano Estacado. Some of the icons are people: Charles Goodnight, Colonel Ranald Mackenzie, Jose Piedad Tafoya, Quanah Parker, and George Causey. Some of the icons are creatures: buffalo, sandhill crane, pronghorn antelope, Cassin’s Sparrow, and prairie dogs. Some of the icons are plants: mesquite, and sideoats grama. At the new teaching pavilion, eight new signs will discuss the eight major habitats of the Llano Estacado. Another sign will discuss all of the new features of the new construction and their locations along the trail.

As visitors enter the main gallery of the Sibley Nature Center, the skull of a phytosaur greets them. The Sibley phytosaur was discovered at McKenzie Lake, near Silverton, Texas by Rick Day. Mr. Day is an 8th grade teacher of the gifted and talented program in Andrews. One of four phytosaurs recovered by Mr. Day, the skull is on permanent loan to the Sibley Nature Center. Lauren Maddox, then a high-school senior, and her father made the museum-quality display case. Sibley staff member Michael Nickell created the superb drawings and the text for the interpretation of the skull. The display wows every visitor to the Sibley Nature Center.

The Sibley Nature Center is the best place anywhere on the Llano Estacado for residents and visitors to learn about our home. Please help us as we seek to expand our facilities as we continue to serve the West Texas community.

---

Groundbreaking - February 12, 2008

A ceremonial groundbreaking took place on February 12, 2008 at the Sibley Nature Center. Texas Speaker of the House Tom Craddick was the featured guest.

The Center raised $630,000 for new developments to the Center, described below.

Phase One

This year we will begin constructing Phase One of a million-dollar project. Four trail shelters will be built along the trails at specific habitat locations. Plantings representing the other four major habitats of the Llano Estacado will be integrated with a larger teaching shelter, fire circle, corral and barn near the building. The entrance to the building will be revamped with a large sheltered patio and additional habitat gardens. On the east side of the building a fenced wildlife garden with a viewing room on one-way glass and embedded microphones enable visitors to observe wildlife “close-up.”

Phase Two

Phase Two of the project will focus on the development of an archaeological/Indian study area, outdoor geology and fossil exhibits, and on additional outdoor signage. Fundraising for Phase Two has begun. Naming opportunities will recognize significant donors. Completion for both phases is targeted for 2009.

If you would like to make a donation to this project, please use the button on the left side of this page to contribute online via PayPal, or visit this page for more options. We are deeply grateful for your support.

Supporters

The Sibley Nature Center’s Board of Directors and staff are deeply appreciative of all the community support we have received to enable us to expand our services and educational opportunities.

The staff and directors are deeply appreciative of all of the wonderful financial support we have received from the following foundations organizations, and public entities; Potts-Sibley Foundation, Abell-Hangar Foundation, Prairie Foundation, Permian Basin Area Foundation, the Anne and C.W. Duncan Foundation, the Greathouse Charitable Trust, the Dora Roberts Foundation, the Chaparral Foundation, the Buddy Davidson Foundation, the Midland Arts Assembly, and the City of Midland.

We have also received donations from Basin Electric Company, BP America, Campbell Construction, Forrest Oil, Marbob Energy, Marathon Oil, Pogo Producing, Summit Homes, TexStar Bank, White Star Energy, and Yarbrough Ranches. We also are very appreciative of the donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals that wish to remain anonymous. We are also grateful for the wonderful advice provided by Midland’s NonProfit Management Center.

The Gem and Mineral Society, the Midland Archaeological Society, the Midland Naturalists, the Llano Estacado chapter of the Master Naturalists, the Midland Woodcarvers, the Environmental Professionals group, Professor Paul Mangum at Midland College, and the Environmental Study Group of the Petroleum Engineer Society of the Permian Basin have also aided us.

Celebrating our Bioregion

Over the past three years we have worked diligently to synthesize our efforts to celebrate our home bioregion, the Llano Estacado, as we teach young and old about our home’s ecology and history (including cultural lifeways), by developing many new displays in the building, by developing our website, and by developing new partnerships with organizations and institutions.

The success of a democratic nation rests upon an informed populace. Every citizen should be ably conversant about their own home’s landscape, history, and infrastructure. Only then can wise decisions be made for the common good. The Sibley Nature Center is proud to be of service in achieving this goal. Although our bioregional approach has been labeled innovative, it is literally a return to basics. It makes sense!