Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is dedicated to environmental preservation through public education and the conservation of birds of prey and wildlife in their natural habitat. Named after the tallgrass prairie that once covered more than 23,500 square miles of Texas from the Red River to San Antonio, Blackland Prairie Raptor Center is a rehabilitation and conservation education organization, specializing in fostering better public understanding of the relationship between birds of prey and healthy ecosystems. BPRC is state and federally licensed: Texas Parks and Wildlife permit #: REH-0715-124 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit #: MB138982 In August 2004, Blackland Prairie Raptor Center was incorporated as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization with a small but determined group of individuals and a common goal – to create a place where the people of North Texas could learn, experience and appreciate birds of prey and understand their importance in the environment as a whole. We began by building appropriate caging for 8 non-releasable raptors and the use of an existing shed on a Board members property approximately 70 miles northeast of Dallas. We offered educational presentations to schools, festivals, camps and environmental groups as well as anyone else interested in learning about raptors, reaching more than 5,000 people in the first year. BPRC signed a lease in 2007 with the US Army Corps of Engineers to use Brockdale Park on Lavon Lake to build our future. The vision was to build a facility for our education raptors, a clinic for raptor rehabilitation and a permanent education building open to the public on this 66-acre park. Through donation of time and money, we've grown our center into one of the top raptor centers in the country, taking in over 700 admissions a year.