Food Donation 



Information Services 



WS donates wild game taken during field 

 activities to food banks and charitable 

 organizations to help feed the hungry after the 

 game is appropriately inspected and pro- 

 cessed. In 1999, WS contributed to food 

 banks 48,896 pounds of edible meat, which 

 included 38,118 pounds of venison. Organi- 

 zations receiving donations included the 

 Salvation Army in Iowa, the Greater Chicago 

 Food Depository, and Bethlehem Food Charity 

 in Illinois, the Lighthouse Mission, the Upper 

 Skagit Indian Tribe in Washington, the Food 

 Bank of Alaska, the South-Central Foundation 

 Elder's Program, the Brother Francis Shelter in 

 Alaska, the Second Harvest Food Bank of 

 Coastal Georgia, and the Low Country Food 

 Bank in South Carolina. 



Preparing for the Year 2000 

 (Y2K) 



To prepare for potential Y2K problems, all WS 

 offices tested their electronic equipment and 

 facilities during FY 1999 to ensure continued 

 operation through the year 2000 rollover date. 

 Equipment determined not to be Y2K 

 compliant was replaced so that WS customers 

 would experience no disruption of services 

 when the year 2000 arrived. The WS national 

 computerized reporting system, the Manage- 

 ment Information System (MIS), also 

 underwent a significant conversion to ensure 

 continued operation into the new year and to 

 prepare for the upcoming changeover to a new, 

 third-generation reporting system, MIS 2000. 



WS public outreach efforts continued to 

 increase in FY 1999. WS conducted 54,933 

 public outreach projects during the year. This 

 work included media interviews, exhibits, 

 instructional sessions, public presentations, 

 radio and television appearances, and 

 providing information for newspaper and 

 magazine articles. 



Also during FY 1999, WS launched a public 

 service announcement (PSA) initiative about 

 the "Nature of Our Business." The 30- to 60- 

 second PSA's target urban audiences and 

 focus on WS' commitment to protect human 

 health and safety, pets, urban and natural 

 resources, agriculture, and T&E species. 

 WS operates 1-800 telephone hotlines in 

 Maryland, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Indiana. 

 Through this popular communication medium, 

 WS received and responded to 11,003 

 inquiries regarding a wide diversity of 

 wildlife-human conflicts. Cooperator interest 

 in establishing toll-free hotlines in other States 

 is increasing. 



WS sponsored public information booths on 

 avoiding wildlife hazards at airports at the 

 Experimental Aircraft Association annual fly-in 

 near Oshkosh, Wl, and at the aerospace 

 industry's foreign object damage conference in 



Long Beach, CA. Approximately 100,000 

 people visited the display area at the fly-in, 

 and over 900 people attended the damage 

 conference, which was sponsored by the 

 Boeing Corporation. 



Living With Wildlife— The WS public 

 outreach campaign, "Living With Wildlife," is 

 designed to educate the general p u b I i c — 

 especially young people — about the impor- 

 tance of balancing the needs of wildlife with 

 the needs of people. The campaign is about 

 the responsible management of conflicts 

 between wildlife and people and emphasizes 

 the leadership role of WS in finding environ- 

 mentally safe and socially acceptable solutions 

 to wildlife problems. 



The campaign includes providing educational 

 materials to schools. Since 1995, more than 

 40,000 teachers nationwide received the 

 Living With Wildlife video, posters, activity 

 sheets, brochures, pens, pencils, and rulers. 

 In cooperation with the Ag in the Classroom 

 program, WS distributed Living With Wildlife 

 educational readers to more than 5,000 

 teachers in Colorado, North Dakota, Nebraska, 

 and Nevada. WS also operated a BTS Website 

 in 1999. 



