INDIANAPOLIS -State Senator Connie Sipes (D-New Albany) and State Senator Jim Lewis (D-Charlestown) announced today that the State Budget Committee has approved state funding for improvements at the Falls of the Ohio State Park.

The State contribution of $500,000 will match a grant award from the Brown Foundation for the design and replacement of exhibits at the Falls of the Ohio Interpretive Center. The total project cost is estimated at $3.9 million. The Falls of the Ohio Foundation is hoping to raise the remaining $2.9 million needed for the project through fundraising.

"I'm pleased that the state's contribution will allow us to leverage the commitment from the Brown Foundation," Sipes said. "The generosity of the Brown Foundation and the hard work by the Falls of the Ohio Foundation to raise the funds for this project is greatly appreciated."

Located on the banks of the Ohio River in Clarksville, the Interpretive Center was built in the early 1990s to interpret the internationally recognized 386-million-year-old fossil beds. The Interpretive Center allows visitors to overlook fossil beds that are among the largest exposed Devonian fossil beds in the world.

"The Falls of the Ohio State Park is a treasure for Southeastern Indiana," Lewis added. "The park gives many Hoosier students and visitors a hands-on opportunity to learn about our natural history and the incredible fossil beds that have been discovered in our area."

The project is set to be completed by the spring of 2012. For more information on the Falls of the Ohio State Park, visit www.fallsoftheohio.org.

For more information on Senator Sipes, her legislative agenda or other State Senate business call
1-800-382-9467 or visit www.senatedemocrats.in.gov.

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