Federal and junior duck stamps available beginning Friday
To mark the first day of sale Friday for the 2009-10 federal and junior duck stamps, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host a ceremony at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store in Nashville.
Attending will be the winning artists whose work will grace this year's stamps. Watertown, S.D. resident Joshua Spies' painting of a long-tail duck and decoy (above) was chosen from 270 entries for the federal stamp, and 16-year-old Lily Spang from Toledo, Ohio won the junior stamp contest with her design featuring a wood duck (below).
To continue the 75-year tradition of a postmaster selling the first stamp to the Fish and Wildlife Service director, Nashville postmaster Dave Vale will be at the ceremony to sell the first stamps to USFWS Acting Director Rowan Gould.
The Bass Pro Shops in Rancho Cucamonga, along with 16 other locations, will hold events and have first-day cancellations and related collectibles available for purchase.
Waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to buy and carry a current federal duck stamp. These stamps are also popular with birding enthusiasts, conservationists and stamp collectors.
Stamps can be purchased at select U.S. post offices, from Amplex Corp. (the USFWS distributor) and at most major sporting goods stores that sell hunting and fishing licenses.
Federal stamp proceeds go directly to help wetland conservation efforts, with 98% of each sale used to purchase or lease waterfowl habitat areas.
Since the program began, more than $700 million has been generated to acquire more than 5.2 million acres which are now protected habitat in the Fish and Wildlife Service’s National Wildlife Refuge System.
The junior stamp contest is part of a program to educate youth about wetlands habitat and waterfowl conservation. Revenue from sales of the junior stamp go into funding this program.
The contest for the 2010-11 federal stamp is now accepting entries, which must be postmarked no later than midnight Aug. 15. Contest rules are available on the USFWS website. Judging will take place Oct. 16-17 at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland. Usually held at the Department of the Interior in Washington, D.C., this will be a sort of homecoming for the event, as it has been held at other locations around the country for the last four years.
-- Kelly Burgess
Images courtesy of USFWS
