August 29, 2001                                                          Contact:          Lyle Button (520)714-1774

Dan Hunter (623)582-2217

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arizona elk tag raffle sets record for Elk Foundation

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—A special elk tag raffle recently conducted by the Arizona Chapters of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation generated a whopping record $134,000 for elk, other wildlife, and their habitats. Since the beginning of the year, Arizona Elk Foundation volunteers have been pounding the pavement hawking $20 raffle tickets to hopeful hunters anxious for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to participate in an elk hunt nearly free of restrictions.

“The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s Arizona volunteers take great pride in conducting and participating in the Arizona elk tag raffle,” said Lyle Button, Arizona Regional Director for the Elk Foundation. “Without a doubt, it’s their dedication and enthusiasm that has driven this raffle to record proceeds. To my knowledge, no hunt tag raffle anywhere has generated $134,000.”

 On August 11 the winning ticket was drawn with Randy Lawffer of Amboy, Washington securing the highly sought hunting privileges. Donated by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, the special elk tag allows Lawffer to pursue elk from September 1 to December31 with either a firearm or bow and arrow in all legal, non-tribal hunting units throughout the state. The tag is good starting this Saturday, and it runs through the end of the year.

The $134,000 proceeds from the raffle will be used to fund habitat acquisitions, easements, forage enhancement projects, water developments, prescribed burns, and other habitat improvement projects for elk and other wildlife in Arizona. Since 1985 when the Elk Foundation first started receiving the commissioners’ tags, nearly $1.85 million has been raised for habitat projects of these sorts. This has  enabled the funding of 136 habitat projects that have conserved and enhanced more than 215,000 acres of important wildlife habitat.

  " Arizonans take pride in the state’s reputation for producing the biggest bulls around,” states Dan Hunter, Arizona State Chair for the Elk Foundation. “The money raised in our raffle will allow us at the Elk Foundation to get together with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and all the land management agencies and fund more elk habitat projects next year to help sustain our large elk herds full of big bulls. It’s great to see how much sportsmen all over the nation are willing to give for the chance at an opportunity to hunt them.”

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation is an international, nonprofit conservation organization whose mission is to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat. Founded in 1984, the Elk Foundation now has 131,000 members and 115,000 supporters who have helped generate the funds to conserve and enhance more than 3 million acres of wildlife habitat across North America. With its recently initiated Pass It On campaign, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has committed to conserving an additional 2 million acres of key wildlife habitat within the next five years, benefiting thousands of elk and numerous other wildlife species throughout North America. To learn more about the Pass It On wildlife habitat conservation effort, visit www.elkfoundation.org or call 1-800- CALL ELK.

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Note:  General pictures of elk in various settings are always downloadable at www.elkfoundation.org.