August 3, 2007
HP-528

Remarks by Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. at Idaho Quarter Celebration

Boise, ID – It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the Idaho quarter, the 43rd quarter of the 50 State Quarters Program.  The Idaho quarter design includes a striking image of the peregrine falcon.  When this spectacular bird was listed as an endangered species in 1970, its population had been reduced to just 324 known nesting pairs.  While it may not seem that the minting of a quarter and the conservation of a species have much in common, in fact, they do.  Both represent successful models of government and citizen cooperation. 

The Idaho quarter is number 43, because the quarters are being unveiled in the same order as a state's admission to the Union.  The first quarter for the first state, Delaware, was issued in January of 1999.  The Idaho quarter follows Washington State, and the next state to unveil its quarter is also your neighbor - Wyoming.

The 50 State Quarters Program, authorized by Congress in 1997, has been very successful.  More than 140 million Americans are collecting the 50 state quarters.  The state quarters program isn't just for coin collectors, however.  Many citizens have had the opportunity to participate in the quarter design process.  Thousands of Americans have suggested designs that represent their state's unique, positive features.  The final designs are selected from these submissions. In 2005, the Idaho Commission on the Arts solicited concepts from the public and received over 1,200 submissions.  Each state's quarter is minted for only ten weeks, and then will never be minted again. 

The peregrine falcon is the chosen design for the Idaho quarter, and the people of Idaho can be rightfully proud of their role in helping to protect this charismatic species. 

The peregrine falcon's recovery is a true success story.  When the peregrine was listed as endangered in 1970, the outlook was grim.  The species had completely vanished in eastern America, and nearly 90 percent of the population in the American west had disappeared. But over the next thirty years, the visionary work in captive breeding and release coordinated by The Peregrine Fund, working in cooperation with scientists, several universities, and many state and federal agencies, led to the falcon's recovery and removal from the endangered species list in 1999.  I know of no more dramatic example of conservation groups working cooperatively, and with the government, to take a bird that was essentially extinct in the continental United States and bring it back to normal population levels.

It is fun for me to talk with you today about these two successful, cooperative public and governmental efforts --- the U.S. Mint's 50 State Quarters Program, and the restoration of the peregrine falcon.  I look forward to the rest of today's program and, remember, spend your Idaho quarters wisely.

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