Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary is a private, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to bringing nature and people together to discover, enjoy, experience, restore and preserve our priceless environment. Your support through financial contributions will help ensure that the Heard, including a 289-acre nature preserve, will be sustained. Because the Heard does not receive regular tax funding, improvements to our facility and conservation of these resources are made possible with the support of individuals like you through donations, admissions and volunteering. During these times of social distancing, the Heard needs your help to continue to make our resources available for the future. Please consider helping today. Thank you.

Protected for its biological importance and for scientific and educational use, this nature preserve is part of the less than 1% of the Blackland Prairie (the most endangered ecosystem in North America) that remains. The Heard Wildlife Sanctuary is a nature preserve rather than a park because of the special character of this area and the rarity of some of its plants and animals. Preserving these natural resources depends on our collective stewardship.

The Heard was founded in 1967 by Bessie Heard at the age of 80. In a time when the rate of expansion of the Metroplex was slower than today, she foresaw the need to preserve a place where future generations could experience nature. The Heard's mission of bringing nature and people together is largely fulfilled through onsite educational programs, which emphasizes an appreciation of nature and its conservation and utilizes the natural resources available within our 289-acre nature preserve.

The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary, located in McKinney, TX, also manages roughly 60 combined acres of Blackland Prairie restoration sites. The Blackland Prairie ecoregion once covered over 19,000 square miles in Texas, which began at the Red River, north of Dallas, and extended south to present-day San Antonio. Now, less than 1% of this ecologically critical ecosystem remains. And, on a larger scale, the Blackland Prairie is one of many prairie ecoregions in the Midwest. Experts estimate that less than 4% of the iconic North American prairie remains, making it one of the rarest and most endangered ecosystems in the world. As a private nonprofit organization, the Heard largely depends on admissions and memberships to support these programs.