Visitors to the recent Heartlands Renaissance Festival may have been greeted by a friendly face and her beaked buddy perched on her glove, occasionally flapping his wings when he got restless.
This was Lindley Wellmon and her redtailed hawk, Cal who have been promoting the Heart of Nature Center being planned in Early to give people in the area more opportunities to learn about wildlife and handson educational opportunities.
“The closest nature center that does what we want to do is 120 miles away,” said Wellmon, the founder and board president. “I think it’s important for our community. We have so many who could benefit from those up-close interactions with animals or educational exhibits.”
The center is currently in phase one of its plan but Wellmon has crafted detailed plans of the three phases of its establishment with multiple options and how those would affect the time table.
A large part of the current phase is securing the land and she thinks she has found the perfect spot. Wellmon has been in talks with the city of Early about a 2-acre property that contains a spring and has some forested areas. The negotiations are looking good and if she gets it, they will work on containing the spring in this phase.
She is also working on getting her educational permit for this phase. She currently has a falconry permit with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that allows her to work with Cal as they host educational programs and travel to schools and events.
“In order to [get my permit], we need to get enclosures built so TPWD can make sure we are following those guidelines,” said Wellmon. Fortunately, Heart of Texas has had eight of its nine enclosures sponsored making this easier. These enclosures will allow for ringtail cats, raccoons, possums, skunks, foxes, crows, cara cara, a red tailed hawk and a barn owl that visitors will be able to see and learn about.
Plans are for displays for birds of prey, mammals and reptiles (once a building is onsite for indoor displays).
The nature center has recently taken into its care a young barn owl and possums which were discovered alone and in need of rehab. Wellmon has been helping Big Country Wildlife Rehab with transport while Heart of Texas board member/ TPWD certified wildlife rehabber Jennifer Kleinpeter handles rehab so the developing facility understands the care needed.
Wellmon may be young but the center is fulfilling a passion she has had for years, dating back to visiting her grandparents in New Jersey when she was 13 or 14. Wellmon recalled getting a teen leader position at a nature center there during the summer and staying well past the morning session each day, relishing the chance to take people on tours and educating them about the animals there. Her favorites were the horseshoe crabs.
“It was seriously one of the best experiences of my life,” she said.
Since then, she has been pursuing this passion in part through her permitted falconry and working with local wildlife organizations. Wellmon has actually worked with several birds before Cal and helped others get birds of prey used to handling.
Wellmon’s own birds she partnered with have been red-tailed hawks, kestrel falcons and harris hawks. She said the hardest part of falconry is weight management because they’re temperament and responsiveness is directly tied to how well-fed they are. This is particularly true of kestrels since they are smaller.
Wellmon plans for the site to also have rotating educational displays so returning visitors won’t see the same lessons and hopes to offer free admission days occasionally. “We want to make sure it’s a place where families have that option to come,” she said.
She also plans to host worthwhile classes like native landscaping, wildlife identification, first aid and venomous snake identification.
“These activities will be conducted around our local communities as well as our physical location once a building is established,” Wellmon said. “We are able to further our conservation efforts by encouraging/ educating the public to take an active role in bettering the native environment around us.”
The Heart of Texas Nature Center focuses its values around CARE: Conservation, Advocacy, Responsibility and Equality. With these values, Wellmon and her board members and volunteers can share their passion for the environment and inspire others.
For more information or to make a donation to the cause, visit https://linktr.ee/heartoftxnaturecenter