A $60,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation will support the efforts of John Edwards, associate professor of wildlife and fisheries resources at West Virginia University, to preserve Americas hunting heritage and promote recreational hunting.

Preserving our hunting heritage is paramount to maintain cultural traditions in West Virginia and across our nation,Edwards said.

He will use funds from the Mellon grant to develop an online version of his Tradition of Hunting course; support efforts to expand university hunting curricula; and promote hunting heritage through teaching and extension.

In 2003, Edwards received a grant from the R.K. Mellon Family Foundation to develop the very popular WVU course which he co-teaches with James Anderson, also a wildlife professor at WVU .

Even though we are able to introduce a large number of students each fallclass size averages 80 or moreto the positive aspects of recreational hunting, it has been our goal to offer the course online via a distance learning format,Edwards said.

Edwards and Anderson recently traveled to South Carolina to meet with representatives from The National Wild Turkey Federation, Clemson University, and others to discuss collaborative efforts to develop and promote an online version of Tradition of Hunting.

In addition to teaching Tradition of Hunting at WVU , Edwards serves on the National Wild Turkey Federations university hunting curricula committee and participates in the Wildlife Management Institutes Conservation Leaders for Tomorrow program, which provides university wildlife students hands-on opportunities to learn about hunting.

The grant was made through the WVU Foundation, a private nonprofit corporation that secures, holds and administers private gifts given by individuals, corporations and philanthropic foundations in support of WVU and its nonprofit affiliates.