Duke Energy Foundation has awarded nearly US$39,000 in grants through its Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions fund to support wildlife rescue efforts in Kay County and Payne County, Oklahoma.
“These grants provide support to organizations that are educating our communities and providing valuable services to care for and protect local wildlife,” said Chris Fallon, president of Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions. “We’re proud to support these incredible organizations, which complements our own continuous efforts to prioritize habitat protection where our renewable energy projects are located.”
The grants include US$26,100 recently awarded to the Nature’s Vein Wildlife Rescue in Payne County, which provides services to rescued injured or orphaned wildlife, and community education programs. This is the second consecutive year that the Duke Energy Foundation, through the Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions fund, has contributed to this valuable community resource.
“Oklahoma is home to a wide variety of birds and animals, many of which find themselves in need of professional care and rehabilitation after unlucky encounters with humans. From the day we established Nature’s Vein Wildlife Rescue, it has been our mission to create an educational nature and rehabilitation center to care for native wildlife, while providing the community with a resource to learn about and interact with native wildlife,” said Jessica Torres, director and founder of Nature’s Vein. “The ongoing support from the Duke Energy Foundation is contributing to our long-term goals, while also serving as a lifesaver for the wildlife we support.”
The Duke Energy Foundation also continued its support of the George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center (Sutton Center) in Kay County with a US$12,500 Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions grant. The funds support eagle research and education, including the Center’s eagle camera project, the longest consistently running nest camera in the nation.
“The Sutton Center was instrumental in helping with recovery by hatching, raising and releasing bald eagles. We are now grateful to Duke Energy for supporting our nest cameras as well as our Bald Eagle Survey Team citizen scientist eagle nest monitoring program. The public can enjoy live views of eagles raising young all on their own, which is a testament to what we can accomplish when caring and working together,” said Lena Larsson, Ph.D., executive director of George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center.
Kay County is home to Duke Energy Sustainable Solutions’ Frontier and Frontier II Windpower projects, which contributes a total of 550 MW of renewable energy to the area.
