New Leader at Riverside Nature Center

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The board of directors at Riverside Nature Center has announced that Mary Muse took the reins on March 26 as the center’s executive director, replacing Barbara Stidham, who retired in February.

“The board is so very pleased that Mary accepted our invitation to leadership,” said Judy Ferguson, president of the board. “Mary comes to us from Montana, where she served 10 years as executive director of the Adams Event Center at the University of Montana. During her tenure, she turned the center from a losing entity into a highly successful, financially viable venue for the community as well as the university.” She was also very involved in the community, serving on a number of boards for area nonprofits and presided over the Convention and Visitors Bureau board for two different terms.

Muse is a Texas native who graduated Texas Tech University and spent the early years of her career in Lubbock and San Antonio. She met her husband, Bill Muse, at the Kerrville Folk Festival. When they married, they moved to Willow City and decided to pursue their dreams, playing Bill’s original songs at festivals, including the Kerrville Folk Festival, coffeehouses and concert series across the country. In 2000, they returned to “regular jobs” with the University of Montana. Last year, Bill was named Vice President, Administration and Finance for Schreiner University, and they are delighted to be back home in the Texas Hill Country.

“Riverside Nature Center is on the threshold of a new era for the facility, thanks to the convergence of many exciting events. We will be turning over several exciting new leaves in 2012,” she said of the center that was founded in 1989 and is a rural retreat within the city limits of Kerrville.

A 501{c}3 nonprofit organization that advances public awareness, appreciation and good stewardship of this area’s natural resources through education, information and by example, RNC provides educational programs for both adults and children. Highlighting the center’s programs are frequent lectures, workshops and special events such as the Star Party series and the spring and autumn festivals.

The center also provides rental facilities for individuals and groups to hold their own events, from birthday parties to seminars.

As RNC celebrates 20 years at its present location at the confluence of Town Creek and the Guadalupe River, the center received the Hill Country Charity Ball Association grant for 2012, which will finance additional gardens and a complete atrium update. The atrium renovation will include interactive exhibits for kids of all ages.

Outdoors, Riverside Nature Center is trailhead for the first section of Kerrville’s new River Trail. Muse said, “We are pleased to partner with the city of Kerrville in celebrating the official groundbreaking for the trail on Saturday, April 28.”

Muse will attend the groundbreaking and looks forward to meeting the Kerrville community.