The Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education won the Outstanding Project of the Year award from the American Fisheries Society for the Center’s plethora of free, hands-on workshops for youth and adults that largely focus on the fragile ecology of mountain streams.

The Pisgah Center, located on U.S. 276 between Brevard and Waynesville south of the Blue Ridge Parkway, provides free educational programs relating to mountain streams and stream conservation issues.

The Pisgah Center annually attracts 12,000 visitors of all ages for its scheduled programs. The center has a total visitation of 125,000 for its museum highlighting stream and wildlife ecology and the interpretive exhibits and self-guided tour of the adjacent trout hatchery.

Opening in 1998, the Pisgah Center was the first wildlife education center built by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. Two more regional wildlife education centers — one on the Outer Banks in Corolla and another on the Centennial Campus of N.C. State University in Raleigh — are scheduled to open within the next year.

The award from the American Fisheries Society is one of three given annually by the group’s Fisheries Administrators Section in recognition of outstanding use of federal excise tax funds — a tax on fishing tackle, boats and motorboat fuel that is used to support state fish and wildlife agencies, which in turn fund the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education.

“I see the positive effect our programs have on North Carolina’s citizens and other visitors to our center,” said Melinda Patterson, center director. “Whether visitors enjoy fishing or are just interested in North Carolina’s wildlife, the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education is here to enrich outdoor experiences in the realm of conservation education.”

To learn about the free programs held regularly at the Pisgah Center for Wildlife Education, watch the Smoky Mountain News outdoors calendar each week.