Mission
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
History
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.
Our founders 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.
• 2007 – BPRC signed a lease with the US Army Corps of Engineers to use Brockdale Park on Lavon Lake to build our future campus. The vision was to build a facility for our education raptors and a clinic for raptor rehabilitation.
• 2009 – education mews are built to house 14 avian ambassadors.
• 2012 & 2013 – BPRC receives a donation of two mobile homes that are converted into an office building and rehabilitation clinic. We finally have indoor plumbing and hot water!
• 2013 – more than 30,000 people experienced our birds of prey throughout North Texas.
• 2014 – BPRC volunteers build two sets of flight cages, one for medium-size species and one for Cooper’s hawks and Mississippi Kites
• August 5, 2015 – BPRC accepts its first rehabilitation patient, a Cooper’s Hawk. That year we received 89 patients.
• 2016 – BPRC receives a total of 400 patients including a Crested Caracara and 2 Long-eared owls. A small bird complex is built for Screech Owls and Kestrels with 8 small cages and 4 flight cages which helps with the 400+ small owls and falcons we receive.
• 2017 – witnessed amazing growth, receiving 764 patients from as far away as Houston and Oklahoma. BPRC receives a Snowy Owl which is rehabilitated and flown to Minnesota for release and Harvey the Hurricane Hawk that had flown into a taxi cab and wouldn’t leave before Hurricane Harvey hit the Houston area.
• 2017 – BPRC receives its 1,000 patient since beginning rehabilitation, a Barn Owl.
• 2018 – BPRC constructs an 8,000 square foot flight complex for large raptors and eagles completing the rehabilitation cages necessary to receive up to 1,000 patients per year.
