Mission & Purpose

To manage and develop The Gerald L. Baliles Center for Environmental Education at Hull Springs as a compelling model of conservation and stewardship to educate the students of Longwood University, other institutions, and the greater community about their role in creating a more sustainable planet.

The Baliles Center for Environmental Education is supported by five goals representing a long-term statement of the aspirations for the Baliles Center. The goals are further defined by current Strategic Goals that represent a roadmap for the next 3-5 years.

The goals are facilitated and supported by the following principles, which run throughout the strategic planning and implementation process.

1. Foster collaborative partnerships in the environmental community and beyond.
2. Implement natural resource plans leading to an integrated model of conservation.
3. Improve and expand capacity to host and deliver educational programs.
4. Establish sustainable educational programs using the features at Hull Springs.
5. Ensure financial stability.

Goals

1. Create a model of conservation and demonstration site for best management land and water use practices using the unique resources at the Baliles Center.
2. Coordinate, develop and deliver educational programs using the unique features at the Baliles Center in the context of a model of conservation to educate many constituencies about sustainable land and water management and stewardship.
3. Provide adequate facilities and support for undergraduate research, a scholar-in-residence program, and for use by other members of the conservation research community.
4. Renovate existing buildings and construct new facilities necessary to deliver education and research programs using green design and construction principles that could be reasonably replicated by the public.
5. Be an active good institutional citizen of the Northern Neck, the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.