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For Immediate Release
Story contest winners speak out for wildlife
Defenders of Wildlife announces the winners of the Your Lands, Your Wildlife, Your Story contest
WASHINGTON—Six writers who offered their stories in support of wildlife on public lands are winners today, and their stories may help make America’s wildlife a winner as well.
Since the contest kicked-off last summer, Americans have been speaking out for protecting wildlife through the “Your Lands, Your Wildlife, Your Story” contest, a nationwide story contest sponsored by Defenders of Wildlife as part of the Your Lands, Your Wildlife campaign.
A student and fly-fisherman, Ian Havlick of Boulder, Colorado, reeled in the grand prize of a $1,000 in gift cards to outdoor retailer REI for his inspirational tale of brotherly bonding over the “baddest” trout in Upper Copper River of the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho.
The 20-year-old sophomore and member of the University of Utah cross-country ski-team has a penchant for sliding down mountains at breakneck speeds, but says that he also has a passion for all things outdoors.
With hopes of becoming a fishing guide after he graduates, Havlick says protecting wildlife on public lands is one of the most important things to him: “If we don’t have that, we don’t have anything else.”
Prizes were also given away to the top stories in five categories: hunting, fishing, birding, wildlife watching and photography, and backcountry adventure.
The other contest winners include: Aaron Bialke of Virginia, Minnesota; Brendan Cushen of Eugene, Oregon; Stephen Kolbe of Stow, Ohio; Jill Bartelt of Kewanee, Illinois; and Josh Ewing of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Read the stories and learn more about the Your Lands, Your Wildlife campaign.
The contest comes as national forest lands and Bureau of Land Management lands face increasing pressure from rapid energy development, dramatic environmental changes associated with global warming and other development.
Together the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) steward 449 million acres of land – almost one fifth of the country’s land area – for the benefit of all Americans. That’s more land than California, Texas and Florida combined.
These lands hold some of the last remaining intact wildlife corridors for big game animals, provide habitat for countless other imperiled and common species, and protect some 3,400 public water supplies, while offering some of the best opportunities for outdoor recreation, hunting and fishing.
The Your Lands, Your Wildlife campaign aims to build a foundation for sustainable wildlife management on national forest and BLM lands.
“These stories illustrate just how connected people from all over the country are to wildlife and public lands,” said Marcia Lesky, the outreach director for Defenders of Wildlife. “Healthy lands and wildlife are important for so many Americans -- for all kinds of reasons. That’s why we need to restore sound management to our federal public lands.”
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Defenders of Wildlife sponsored the contest as part of The Your Lands, Your Wildlife campaign, a coalition of sportsmen groups, outdoor enthusiasts and conservation organizations working to restore balanced management to federal public lands. Learn more about the campaign at www.YourLandsYourWildlife.org.
