Get Into Nature: Holiday gifts for conservationists
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If you're trying to save money this holiday shopping season, consider buying products from state conservation agencies. Some have extensive "outdoor stores" and many offer state-based magazines or calendars at reasonable prices.
Pennsylvania's Game Commission and Fish and Boat Commission, for example, have impressive online outdoor stores. Visit www.pgc.state.pa.us and click on "The Outdoor Shop" icon. At that point you can visit either agency's shop.
Examples of Game Commission items include:
• Subscriptions to Game News ($18 per year), the monthly wildlife and hunting magazine.
• A variety of books, including "Trees of Pennsylvania and the Northeast" ($19.95) and "Woodcrafting for Wildlife" ($5.66), which includes detailed plans for building nesting structures for birds, bats and squirrels.
• Beautiful calendars ($8.95).
• Wildlife-themed Christmas ornaments.
• An impressive array of collectable embroidered patches ($5.66) featuring various game and nongame species.
• Collectable wildlife art prints ($125) by award-winning artists.
• Assembled nest boxes for various species: two bluebird boxes for $21, kestrel and screech owl box for $28, squirrel box for $40 and bat houses for $113. On the main Game Commission page, search "nest box," then click on "wood product brochure."
At the Fish and Boat Commission shop, you'll find:
• Subscriptions to the monthly Pennsylvania Angler and Boater Magazine ($12 per year).
• Books such as "Pennsylvania Fishes" ($9.43) and "Pennsylvania Amphibians and Reptiles" ($9.43).
• Colorful embroidered patches ($4.71) featuring species such as timber rattlesnakes, wood turtles and toads.
• Educational card sets ($2.83) featuring fish, plants and butterflies and moths.
Michigan's wildlife services also offers embroidered patches ($5) featuring endangered species such as piping plovers and Kirtland's warblers (www.michigan.gov/dnr; click on "Michigan e-store"). And spectacular wildlife prints by Gijsbert Van Frankenhuyzen can be had for as little as $15.
The West Virginia DNR (www.wvdnr.gov, see the "publications" heading) offers a terrific calendar each year ($9), and Wonderful West Virginia ($18 per year, 1-800-CALL-WVA) has subscribers all across the country.
Finally, if your budget is especially tight this year, the quarterly Wild Ohio magazine, above, is free on request (1-800-WILDLIFE).
Scott Shalaway is a biologist and author. His other weekly Post-Gazette column, "Wildlife," runs Sundays on the outdoors page in Sports. He can be reached at sshalaway@aol.com or RD 5, Cameron, WV 26033.
First Published December 14, 2008 12:00 am
