ST. PAUL, Minn. - Motorists who love the outdoors can support conservation with a new critical habitat license plate featuring moose art by a renowned Minnesota wildlife artist.
The new moose plate, which displays a never-before-published painting by Les Kouba, is the eighth critical habitat plate offered by the state. Other plates display the loon, pheasant, chickadee, showy lady's slipper, a fishing scene and white-tailed deer.
"Moose are synonymous with Minnesota's north woods and its outdoor heritage," said Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Tom Landwehr. "Nothing captures the essence of being up north better than a bull moose feeding in the shallows of a boreal lake, and that's exactly what this new license plate depicts."
The critical habitat license plate program was created in 1995 to encourage Minnesotans to contribute toward conservation. Motorists who purchase a critical habitat plate make a minimum annual contribution of $30 to the Reinvest in Minnesota (RIM) program. Every dollar generated through the sale of the license plate is matched with private donations of cash or land.
The DNR says critical habitat license plates have generated more than $25 million toward the purchase of 7,700 acres of critical habitat and helped fund non-game wildlife research and surveys, habitat enhancement and educational programs. Information about the program is available on the DNR website.
Revenue from the sale of the new moose plate will go directly to RIM Critical Habitat and not be used for moose research and management.
