A Quarter to Call Our Own

Take a closer look at the shrapnel in your pocket because you might find one of Louisiana’s natural treasures jingling around in there. As the latest addition to the U.S. Mint’s America the Beautiful Quarters Program, Kisatchie National Forest is the subject of a new Louisiana quarter featuring a wild turkey in flight over blue stem grass with long leaf pine in the background. The quarter will be officially released with a ceremony in Alexandria on April 22, with a planned production run of 394 million Kisatchie coins to be struck.

A multi-year initiative honoring fifty-six national sites in all fifty states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories, the America the Beautiful Quarters Program releases five new tails-side quarter designs per year through 2021. This year the Kisatchie quarter enters circulation alongside coins commemorating Homestead National Monument of America, Nebraska; the Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina; Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Delaware; and Saratoga National Historical Park, New York.

According to Amy Robertson, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Forest Service, the fact that Kisatchie was chosen is an extraordinary honor. “Typically the sites chosen [for the America the Beautiful quarter series] are a national park or national monument. So the fact that we’re a national forest is quite special. We’re the only one of five national forests to be chosen.” Robertson explained that during fall of 2014, the rangers, wildlife biologists, and administrative personnel who manage the 604,000-acre forest were asked to propose ideas and themes that exemplified Kisatchie and also represented the state of Louisiana. “We sent a list of ten concepts, then Mint artists came up with seven different sketches from which we were asked to narrow down to three [the ones] that we’d be happy to see on the quarter,” she said. Those designs were then submitted to a Department of Treasury review board, which led to the selection of a final design created by artist Susan Gamble and sculptured by U.S. Mint Medallic Sculptor Joseph Menna. The designs of all coins in the series can be seen at usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/?action=siteRegister.

Everybody wants to be in the money, but it's not often that you find yourself on the money. So to celebrate, the City of Alexandria will host a Kisatchie National Forest Quarter launch and coin-exchange event at 10 am on April 22 at the Alexandria Riverfront Center. Speakers will include the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tom Kidwell: and B. B. Craig, Associate Director of the U.S. Mint’s department of Environment, Safety, and Health, who will be bringing $25,000 worth of the new quarters with him. Attendees will be able to exchange standard-issue quarters for the new coins, and each attendee eighteen or younger will receive one in a commemorative case. In addition, on Tuesday, April 21, the U.S. Mint will host a coin forum at Alexandria’s Kent Plantation House, during which a representative will discuss the America The Beautiful program and explain how coin designs are developed. Both events are free and all are welcome to attend. Usmint.gov/events to learn more.