The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network, Inc. (T.E.R.N.) encourage you and your students to compete in the 19th Annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest. This popular conservation art contest provides a unique opportunity for students to explore the wonders of Georgia's plant and animal species through this year's theme "Nature's Gifts: The Plants and Animals of Georgia."

This theme showcases Georgia's magnificent plants and animals and their unique interactions by which they thrive and call this state home. In the wild, animals survival depends heavily on plants, and in most cases, plants need the assistance of animals to survive as well.

Whether in the schoolyard or the backyard, students can illustrate all the out-of-doors has to offer while learning more about Georgia's nongame plants and animals natures gifts! The artwork might reflect the melodies of birds and insects, or the chirps of frogs and hoots of owls at a nearby pond.
What do the trees and soil feel like? With a touch of creativity and color, these sights and sounds can be transformed into artwork that depicts wildlife in their native Georgia habitat.

The vast majority of the state's native wildlife species are nongame (those which are not hunted, trapped or fished) and can include rare or endangered animals and plants such as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker and the hooded pitcherplant, an unusual carnivorous plant found in the longleaf pine ecosystem. There are approximately 3,600 species of nongame plants, 950 nongame vertebrate species and countless invertebrate species of nongame wildlife in Georgia. More than 95 percent of the state's vertebrate wildlife species are considered nongame!

Nongame wildlife can be found in your schoolyard, students' backyards or community parks. Take your students on a field trip to a nearby state park, botanical garden or wildlife management area and set them free to observe and explore Georgia's wildlife!

We look forward to working with you and your students on the 19th Annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest! If you have any questions or need additional copies of the 2009 Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest brochure, please contact: Rick Lavender, (770) 918-6787 (rick.lavender@gadnr.org or GiveWildlifeAChance@gmail.com), or Cora Keber, (706) 542-6156.