The four stamps that make up this block of four, which was issued as a sheetlet of sixteen with four such blocks, were designed by four young artists who won a nationwide contest.

More than 150,000 schoolchildren across the nation entered the contest in which youths age eight to thirteen designed stamps to illustrate ways to preserve, protect, and restore the environment. This stamp issue marks a milestone in stamp history: the first time that the names and the ages of the stamp artists appear on the stamps.

The four winners each received a family trip to Washington, D.C., to attend first-day ceremonies of the stamp. Each of the four winners also received a three thousand dollar U.S. Savings Bond. This contest was part of a larger environmental education initiative sponsored by the USPS and McDonald's.

This initiative provided teachers across America with free education kits, complete with contest rules and entry forms, as well as environmental posters and classroom activities highlighting the "hows" and "whys" of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Children also were able to obtain rules and entry forms at the nearly ten thousand participating McDonald's restaurants and local post offices throughout the United States.