ORANGE, Texas,
August 26, 2008 - Black bears will be the focus of the final installment of
Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature
Center's 2008 Beat the
Heat presentation series. Rickey Maxey of the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department will
lead the discussion, titled Black Bears in Texas, on Tuesday, September 16 at 7:00 p.m.
The event is free of charge and will be held at the Stark
Museum Education
Center, which is located at 812 Green Avenue, Orange,
Texas, across 7th Street from the
Stark Museum of Art in downtown Orange.
In the 1890s, black bears were found throughout east Texas; however, they
became nearly extinct due to habitat destruction and hunting pressure.
Conservation efforts have helped save the species, and bears are once again
being spotted in east Texas and western Louisiana. In his
presentation, Maxey will discuss the species and their condition in the area
today.
For more information, please visit www.shangrilagardens.org
or call 409.670.9113.
About Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center
Nestled within 252 acres in the heart of Orange,
Texas, Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature Center
is a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private
foundation whose mission is to improve and enrich the quality of life in Southeast Texas and encourage and assist education. The
unique ecosystem of Shangri La presents an ideal opportunity to further that
mission as well as carry on the vision of H.J Lutcher Stark, the man who
originally developed the gardens more than 60 years ago.
The formal Botanical Gardens contain more than 300 plant
species in five formal "rooms" as well as four sculpture
"rooms" plus thousands of nesting birds in Ruby Lake.
The Nature Center includes Adams Bayou boat
excursions to educational outposts, a 15-acre Beaver Pond, a state-of-the-art
bird blind, a bat house, and more up-close encounters with nature.
Shangri La Botanical Gardens and Nature
Center is the first project in Texas and the 50th
project in the world to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's Platinum Certification for LEED®-NC, which verifies that the design and construction of
Shangri La reached the highest green building and performance measures. Shangri
La offers a glimpse of how people can live in harmony with nature, as it strives
in its mission to Mentor Children of All Ages to Be Kind to Their World.
Shangri La is located at 2111 West Park Avenue, Orange,
Texas.
###
2111
W. Park Avenue
Orange,
Texas 77630
409.670.9113
www.shangrilagardens.org
