The 11th annual Endangered Species Day is Friday. It's a day to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species with everyday actions.

The 2016 Saving Endangered Species Youth Art Contest open to kindergarten to 12th grade students closed March 1, but winning entries from 2015 may be viewed at www.endangered.org.

Participants had to depict in their entries a land or ocean dwelling species living or migrating in the United States and its waters, or a plant/flower that has been placed on the threatened or endangered species list.

The vertebrate animals list includes birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and fish, while the invertebrate animals are clams, snails, insects and crustaceans. In the plant family, the list includes flowering plants as well as non-flowering plants such as conifers, ferns and lichens.

This is a good event to educate our youth on the importance of growing up responsively in regard to our natural resources, plus the grand prize winner receives a round-trip flight from the Endangered Species Coalition to Washington, D.C., a lesson from a professional wildlife artist and $50 in art supplies. Partners in this contest include the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and the International Child Art Foundation.

As of July, there were 43 endangered and threatened animal and plant species in South Carolina.

On the threatened list of animals are wood storks, roseate terns, long-eared bats, piping plovers, frosted flatwoods salamanders and green sea turtles. Some of the animals on the endangered list include red cockaded woodpeckers, red wolf, several types of whale and several types of sea turtles, including the leatherback.

The federal Endangered Species Act makes the taking of animals on endangered or threatened species lists illegal, with individuals being fined up to $25,000 for each violation. Only with a permit issued by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will an individual be allowed a "taking" with legitimate reason for specific purposes.

Through cooperation of private landowners, where at least 80 percent of threatened and endangered species have their habitats, with federal agencies and other conservation work, some of the species have recovered and been "de-listed," such as the brown pelican known to occur in South Carolina. It was recovered in 1985 after being considered endangered for 15 years.

In the May-June issue of South Carolina Wildlife magazine, an article titled "The Sea Turtle Cruise" by Erin Weeks makes for some in-depth reading in understanding the work the S.C. Department of Natural Resources takes in preserving our wildlife.

"The DNR's sea turtle program plays a crucial role in restoring this endangered species in the Southeastern states. Twelve weeks out of the year, DNR biologists embark on research expeditions to study sea turtles just off the southeastern coast," it says.

"By catching turtles in open waters, researchers get a glimpse of something rarely seen: juveniles and males, the little-studied members of sea turtle populations that rarely come ashore. And for the first time since loggerheads were declared federally threatened, biologists are expressing cautious optimism about the future of these ancient reptiles."

Through diligent care and working with the Fish & Wildlife Service, whose 2014 budget totaled $2.79 billion, and the Department of Natural Resources, with its stated mission to serve as the principal advocate for and steward of our natural resources, "including endangered species," we can be successful in "de-listing" other plants and animals in the near future.

Jean Tanner is a lifelong resident of rural Bluffton. She can be reached at jstmeema@hargray.com.