West Virginia University’s Division of Forestry expressed its gratitude for the gift of an extensive wildlife collection at a dedication event Wednesday, Nov. 12. Donors David and Cathy Samuel were honored at a reception at the Westvaco Natural Resources Center at the WVU Research Forest.

The wildlife collection, which includes 25 professionally mounted specimens, will serve as an educational tool to be on permanent display at the Westvaco Center. The pieces, collected from North America and Africa, will be accompanied by printed material describing each of the mounts and explaining the critical role of hunting in wildlife management.

“We greatly appreciate the Samuels’gift,”said Joseph McNeel, director of the Division of WVU ’s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.”It adds a significant sense of the outdoors to the Westvaco Center. Forest management and wildlife management go hand-in-hand.”

David Samuel is a professor emeritus of the Division’s wildlife and fisheries resources program. He, wife Cathy and their family have remained avid supporters of the program, division and college, creating a faculty excellence award for educators in the Davis College. Samuel’s mother, Mary Grace Samuel, established the Mary Grace Samuel Endowment Fund for support of the Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society at WVU . Shortly after his 1998 retirement, Samuel received the Wildlife Society’s Special Recognition Service Award.

“The wildlife management system in the United States is the most successful in the world,”said Samuel, who taught at WVU for more than 30 years.”It is based on a simple principle of economic incentive, whereby hunters pay for wildlife management. The system only works when wildlife populations remain abundant.”

The Samuels’gift was made through the WVU Foundation, a private, non-profit corporation that generates and provides support for WVU . It is currently conducting a $250 million”Building Greatness”Campaign on behalf of the university. A five-year effort, the campaign has generated $281 million in gifts and pledges and concludes Dec. 31, 2003.

For additional information on the wildlife collection, contact McNeel at 304-293-2941, ext. 2471.