TRANSPORTATION SHOULD NOT BE A BARRIER IN OUR COMMUNITY. 

The Blue Goose Bus Fund assists schools with transportation of students to and from the Refuge to study nature, in nature. Without the Blue Goose Bus Fund, these learning excursions would not happen. Schools where at least 50% of students or more are in need of free/reduced-cost lunch qualify.

The chief source of funding for the Blue Goose Bus Fund is with generous support from the Minnesota Valley Trust, however, you can help continue to help the Blue Goose Bus fly by making a donation today. 

Where did the Blue Goose name come from?

Cartoonist Ding Darling created the flying blue goose symbol in the 1930s as the trademark of the National Wildlife Refuge System. He was passionate about politics and conservation and often worked themes involving pollution and extinction of wildlife into his cartoons.
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In 1934 President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Ding Darling as the head of the U.S. Biological Survey, the predecessor of the Fish and Wildlife Service, and Darling soon came to be known as the leading conservationist and ecologist of his generation. He established the National Wildlife Federation (think Ranger Rick), created the Federal Duck Stamp Program and designed the nation’s first “Duck Stamp.” Proceeds from the 1.5 million plus stamps sold each year are used to purchase wetlands for the protection of waterfowl habitat. Darling has been referred to as the “best friend ducks ever had.” (Paraphrased from our friends at the Ding Darling Society)