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July 6, 2004 Environmental Learning Center To Serve Urban
Houston HOUSTON — Construction has begun on the first phase of a
multi-million dollar project to build new student facilities and
transform former fish hatchery ponds into a model environmental
education center at Sheldon Lake State Park in northeast
Houston. The Sheldon Lake Environmental Learning Center is
envisioned as a giant, outdoor classroom where schoolchildren
can learn about nature and the environment through hands-on
experience. The main audience is inner city young people, few of
whom have access to fishing, birding and other typical state
park activities. "The world of nature and the outdoors, the
domain of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and its allies,
has historically been a rural enterprise," said Al Henry of
Houston, a Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioner who has become
the project’s leading advocate. "But to