Junior duck stamp contest deadline announced
The deadline has been announced for an annual youth waterfowl art contest.
Entries in the Washington Junior Duck Stamp Contest are due to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge by Feb. 15.
The contest is part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Federal Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program, an art and science curriculum that teaches wetland and waterfowl conservation to students in kindergarten through high school, according to a USFWS news release.
The goal is for students to showcase what they’ve learned about waterfowl by drawing or painting a North American duck, goose or swan.
Thousands of students participate each year. In 2019, about 20,000 students entered their state’s iteration of the contest.
Winners of state contests advance to a national contest. The winning artwork from the national contest becomes the design for the Junior Duck Stamp. The USFWS produces a junior stamp each year, and the $5 stamp is a sought-after collector’s item, according to the release.
Students in grades K-12 are eligible to participate. Full contest rules and information is available at www.fws.gov/program/junior-duck-stamp/junior-duck-stamp-contest-information.
For more information on the Washington contest, email state coordinator Mesha Wood at mesha_wood@fws.gov.
Entries must be mailed to:
Junior Duck Stamp Contest
Ridgefield Refuge Complex
28908 NW Main Ave.
P.O. Box 457
Ridgefield, Wash., 98642
Spokane Riverkeeper hosts citizen scientist training
The Spokane Riverkeeper will host a training later this month for people interested in helping with its ongoing monitoring of sediment levels in the Spokane River and Hangman Creek.
The nonprofit’s study is looking at the amount of sediment that flows into the river from Hangman Creek, an important tributary that joins the river just west of downtown Spokane.
Volunteers who attend the training will be able to participate in the study.
An in-person training will take place Saturday at the 11th Street Bridge.
Sign up information is available at www.spokaneriverkeeper.org/volunteer.