Duck Stamp
I’m learning one thing the hard way… you have to re-educate the public mind about every 15 or 20 years or it forgets everything learned a while back.”- J. Norwood “Ding” Darling – popular artist, conservationist, hunter, birder, head of the U.S. Biological Survey (1934-35).
Friday, 24 June, marks the “First Day of Sale” for the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation [Duck] Stamp, an opportunity to help us connect a refuge past with a refuge future.
When the stamp was launched, in the mid-1930s through the visionary activities of Ding Darling and his colleagues, the country was in a deep eco-crisis, a crisis of combined economic and ecological distress. It didn’t prevent Darling and others to make big-vision plans to confront the challenge.
All conservationists and outdoor recreationists who enjoy wildlife and protected natural places – small and large – can thank those who have regularly purchased these stamps over the decades, since these men and women have contributed over $750 million to secure 5.3 million acres of habitat for wildlife and for future generations of Americans.
Still – and as Ding Darling indicated so many years ago – occasionally we have to be reminded of some of the basics. And the First Day of Sale should remind us about three essentials in this regard:
The first is that waterfowl hunters have been the foundation for securing some of the most important wetland and grassland habitats within the Refuge System. It’s that simple.
The second is that no one group can do it alone. The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp may rely on essential waterfowl hunter support, but these days it cannot succeed in saving significant habitat for the Refuge System unless others, as a wildlife conservation community, pitch in. For example, friends groups, birders, wildlife photographers, general conservationists, collectors, and environmental educators all have very important roles to play.
And third is that the purchase of a stamp is not something that only benefits ducks. Among bird
species, there are shorebirds, long-legged waders, and wetland and grassland songbirds that are increasingly dependent on habitat secured from migratory bird stamp purchases. (One might say the same about other wildlife – mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, butterflies, – that flourish through stamp investments.)
This is where the old vision and the new vision connect, in a vibrant and broad conservation community working in cooperation to protect habitat for our birds and other wildlife, the foundation for future stamp success.
For more details on the First Day of Sale of the stamp, see here: www.fws.gov/duckstamps/
Look for the launch of a new “Friends of the Migratory Bird-Duck Stamp” later this year.
Paul J. Baicich, Great Birding Projects
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Excellent work, Paul. EVERYONE who appreciates birds and other wildlife, and who takes part in nature-related activities should definitely purchase an inexpensive Stamp each and every year.
Everyone who reads Paul’s entry should be buying a duck stamp, and probably is.
We need to share this conservation success story with others. Tell someone you know about the stamp and ask them to purchase one. You can’t talk about the stamp without talking about the refuge system and the vital role it plays as the backbone of conservation lands in this nation. Tell someone who doesn’t work for FWS. Maybe a new Friends member, or a neighbor or friend.
The only way we will increase sales is to reach the vast majority of folks in this country who have never heard of the stamp, and do not know about the National Wildlife Refuge System.
As a FWS employee, I confess I have been inconsistent with Duck Stamp purchases myself. This year I will buy my 1 1/2 year old daughter her first one, and make it a tradition. Thanks for the reminder!