The new David Snowden Waterfowl Center of Excellence was officially announced during a ceremony Monday at the University of Arkansas Monticello, where it will be housed once open.
First conceived in 2022, the Snowden Center is a project years in the making, and once operating, is poised to position Arkansas as a leader in wetlands, waterfowl and conservation research.
“It’s a perfect fit for the state known as the duck hunting capital of the world and the region of that state where a lot of the best of that hunting happens,” said Dr. Michael Blazier, dean of the College of Forestry, Agriculture and Natural Resources at UAM.
Dr. Douglas Osborne, professor of wildlife ecology at UAM, will serve as the inaugural director of the Snowden Center, made possible by the Dyke-Snowden Endowed Chair of Waterfowl and Wetlands fund. Blazier said Osborne has been instrumental in establishing the Snowden Center.
“When Dr. Douglas Osborne started here in 2012, he recognized that Arkansas is the prime wintering grounds for waterfowl for North America and set out to build one of the top research programs and education programs for waterfowl and wetlands in the country,” he said.
UAM is also partnered with the Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center, where graduate students can earn certification in waterfowl habitat and recreation management through living, working and studying on-site at the Five Oaks facility.
Osborne said he’s proud to be a part of growing researchers’ understanding of waterfowl and their habitat in Arkansas.
“To my knowledge, our Snowden Waterfowl Center is the only ‘Center of Excellence’ designated to waterfowl in the country — something that we should be very proud of,” he said. “We’re going to use this for scholarships to recruit students from all over the country.”
Gov. Sarah Sanders, also in attendance at Monday’s ceremony, said duck hunting adds more than $300 million to the Arkansas economy annually, over only 72 days.
“For many Arkansas families, a kid’s first duck hunt is a rite of passage. It’s part of our identity. It’s part of the Arkansas story, and this center is coming into being at a time when, unfortunately, that way of life is under threat. It’s no secret that waterfowl populations are falling. If we want to ensure that our kids and our grandkids can enjoy the same traditions that we do, we have to make investments today that will help ensure that that happens,” Sanders said.
The Snowden Center has national significance; Osborne expects to draw students from all over the country. David Snowden, for whom the center is named thanks to his fundraising efforts for the center (as is fellow fundraiser Merritt Dyke in the endowment), said the center will “be a sought-after destination for those seeking wildlife degrees with an emphasis in waterfowl and a source for well-funded, peer-reviewed research.”
“The Snowden Waterfowl Center of Excellence will not only attract the best and brightest students to UAM but will also attract top-flight educators and researchers due to its sustainable funding model,” he said.
Learn more at uamont.edu.
