Minnesota drivers who support conservation through the purchase of special critical habitat license plates will be able to add an East Grand Forks-designed fish-and-lake scene to their vehicles starting early next year.
The Department of Natural Resources announced today that a setting sun framed by a leaping fish and stand of cattails has been selected as the winning design for the 2007 Critical Habitat License Plate. This marks the first new critical habitat plate design since 2002, when the popular loon plate was issued.
The air-brushed painting was designed by Sam Melquist, 27, of East Grand Forks. He was one of six finalists that a panel of judges submitted to Merriam and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion for final selection.
Sam Melquist
"Sam's painting was the top choice based on 14,000 public comments posted on our Web site," said Gene Merriam, DNR commissioner. "Commissioner Campion and I agreed."
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Melquist, who had never entered a DNR art contest before, said his brother-in-law, Jerod Hjelle, was the source of his inspiration.
"Jerod caught a 10-pound walleye this past summer," Melquist said. "It was a beautiful fish. That catch, plus his hounding that I enter the contest, motivated me. So I sketched and air brushed a painting that isn't intended to depict reality so much as it is to appeal to the public."
Public appeal also is the reason Melquist's original artwork was later enhanced by DNR graphic artists to include blue sky and water.
Motorists who choose the critical habitat plate make an annual minimum contribution of $30 to the Reinvest in Minnesota program. Every dollar generated through the sale of the license plates is equally matched with private donations of cash or land.
Critical habitat license plate purchasers have provided more than $17.5 million for habitat and nongame wildlife conservation since the first deer plate was issued in 1996. More than 88,000 loon plates and 30,000 deer plates have appeared on vehicles, generating more than $3.5 million per year.
The money has helped with the purchase and designation of more than 4,300 acres of public aquatic management areas, wildlife management areas and scientific and natural areas, according to C.B. Bylander, DNR Fish and Wildlife Outreach Section chief.
-- See the plate: www.dnr.state.mn.us .
