The 16th annual benefit auction for the nonprofit Idea Wild raised more than $31,000 Saturday, the most ever for the Fort Collins, Colo.-based conservation group.

"To have that in these tough economic times is really a testament to the people of Rapid City and their commitment to conservation," founder Wally Van Sickle said Monday.

Southwest Middle School students helped raise $700 by selling tickets to people who spent money at the auction. That money will help fund an education program aimed at preserving an endangered bird species that lives in and around Chitwan National Park in Nepal, Van Sickle said.

Van Sickle, who grew up in Rapid City, created Idea Wild in 1981. The nonprofit group provides basic field equipment, such as binoculars, computers, cameras and camping gear, to scientists doing conservation work in Mexico, Central America, South America, the Philippines, Madagascar, the Caribbean, West Africa and Southeast Asia. Each project costs, on average, $750 to fund.

For more information or to donate, go to www.ideawild.org.