Our Mission is to provide  educational programs to all interested parties in the Owensboro-Daviess County area and its surrounding counties that wish to commune with nature in the natural location of the Joe Ford Nature Center or at their chosen sites with its core content being inspired by Joe's resources and contributions to this community.

In the center we proudly preserve many resources used by Naturalist Joe Ford himself  before, during and after his tenures as  Founder/Director of the Owensboro Area Museum for 21 years, 14 years as naturalist for Daviess Connty Parks and later as naturalist for Joe Ford Library.  Resources are cataloged and ready for use in the library or for check out.

Several snakes, a tarantula, and a tree frog are some of the live specimen to delight our visitors.  Audubon birds with authentic bird sounds are part of our nature-related inventory in our gift shop.

Joe's writings of 8 compilations of his newspaper articles and his other books are on sale in the gift shop as well. In the Beginning and Through the Years is a CD that contains all of Joe's books and numerous other articles not yet published.

Display cabinets contain artifacts about Indians, trees, the old days, geology, ocean gems, Civil War, and others.  A collection of cameras with original cost and current collector value await you.These can be purchased.

We provide programs at the center or at a place of your choice to schools, churches, and organizations.  Our programs are for all ethnic groups of all ages.
A  Naturalist Program exists for children ages 7 - 15. and Budding Naturalists ages 3-6.