Permit Auction Nets $94,843 For Conservation Camp Scholarships

AUGUSTA, Maine – Ten hunters this week won the privilege to hunt moose in Maine during the upcoming season by bidding a total of $94,843 in the 2009 Maine Moose Permit Auction, which benefits youth conservation education scholarships.

More than 30 people took part in the auction. The 10 successful bids ranged from $9,007 to $10,313.

All of the money derived from the 2009 Maine Moose Permit Auction goes to partial scholarships that will help send Maine youngsters to the University of Maine 4-H Camp & Learning Center at Bryant Pond (formerly called the Maine Conservation Camp) and Conservation Camp at the Greenland Point Center in Princeton. At these five-day camps, boys and girls ages 10 through 14 take part in an array of outdoor and classroom activities. Students work with experienced instructors and counselors, as well as staff from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and other state and private conservation agencies.

Close to 300 scholarships were awarded in 2008.

“The 10 successful hunters are doing more than bidding on the opportunity to participate in the hunt of their lifetime in the outdoors that they love,” said Roland D. Martin, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “They are giving children a chance to learn valuable outdoor skills and gain a greater appreciation for the Maine outdoors as well.”

The annual Maine Moose Permit Auction was created by the Maine Legislature, which authorized the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to publicly auction permits as a way to raise funds for youth conservation education programs. Since the first auction in 1995, five permits were auctioned annually. In 2007, the Legislature voted to double the number to 10.

Conservation camp programs are designed to teach Maine boys and girls the importance of conservation, a respect for the environment and a working knowledge of a variety of outdoor skills. Subjects taught at the camp include wildlife identification, introduction to fishing, boating safety, archery, firearms handling, hunter safety, forest conservation, map and compass work and much more.

For more information on the Greenland Point Center and the Maine Conservation School, please visit their websites at http://www.meconservationschool.org/ and http://www.greenlandpoint.com/.

The 10 hunters have one month to pay their bid. The successful bidders who will join this year’s moose permit holders in the annual moose hunt are:

Robert C. Roach, Bellefontaine, Ohio; Daniel W. Braden, Shelby, Alabama; James Snyder, Garnet Valley, Pennsylvania; Rick St. Hilaire, Turner, Maine; Drayton McLane III, Temple, Texas; Frederick L. Jackson, Killingworth, Connecticut; Richard Bresnahan, Hope, Maine; Robert Wheelock Sr., Augusta, Maine; Joe Hill, Brandon, Mississippi; and Andrew Koukoulas, East Northport, New York.

Tom Remington