Contact: Ernie Blazar 202.224.7627 Shana Stribling 202.224.0309
Friday, January 24, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC –– U.S. Senator Kit Bond today announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will send Missouri $250,000 in federal dollars for the Missouri Forest Heritage Center.

"These dollars will allow the Missouri Forest Heritage Center continue to help all Missourians appreciate the resources, scenic beauty and history our state's forests provide," said Bond.

The Missouri Forest Heritage Center (MFHC) will receive $250,000 for construction of an interpretive center in the Missouri Ozarks. These dollars were secured in the fiscal year 2001 appropriations bill.

The MFHC interpretive center will give visitors a look at logging and sawmilling at the turn of the century, present forest conditions and how forests may be managed in the future.

Kit Bond, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds HUD, is Missouri’s senior Senator and is now in his third term after having served the state previously during two terms as Governor.