Coleman purchased a Federal Duck Stamp for each of the 420 Kansas students who entered the 1992 competition. At $15 per stamp, the total Coleman contribution amounted to $6,300 with a match from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation making for a grand total of $12,600. The matching funds will be used to produce additional program curriculum guides and contest information pckets for kindergarten through twelfth-grade teachers. This joint effort among the Coleman Company, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and the Federal Duck Stamp Program will serve as a model for private-public partnerships in other states holding Junior Duck Stamp Contests.
Mike Hayden, Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Fish and Wildlife and Parks, said, "The Coleman Company has always been a corporate conservation leader. Their support will help teach young people about the environment and at the same time give them a sense of achievement. I also want to thank our other national partners, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Ducks Unlimited, and Field and Stream, Jr., for their strong support for the Junior Duck Stamp Program."
Junior Duck Stamp Contests have been held in Kansas, California, Arkansas, Illinois, Florida, and Vermont, and are patterned after the Federal Duck Stamp Contest. Under the Federal program a new Federal Duck Stamp design is selected each year through a government-sponsored art competition. In states with a Junior Duck Stamp Program, students in grades kindergarten through twelve enter their renditions of North American ducks, geese, or swans in the junior contest hoping to win the grand prize trip to Washington, D.C.
To find out more about becoming a Corporate State Sponsor of the Junior Duck Stamp Program and states where new programs will be coming soon, contact the Federal Duck Stamp Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Room 2058, Washington, D.C. 20240, (202) 208-4354.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
