Not only for hunters, the Duck Stamp has raised greater than $1 billion for conservation, helped birds from Buffleheads to Bobolinks, and created a wealth of advantageous artwork within the course of. Shopping for a Duck Stamp is a constructive conservation motion any birder can take.
July 30, 2024
Initially revealed July 2014; up to date July 2024.
Among the many U.S.’s many spectacular federal and state lands, it pays to recollect the wildlife havens which might be the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge system, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This technique of greater than 500 areas is managed primarily for the advantage of wildlife, and they’re nice locations to see birds of every kind, together with waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds.
Top-of-the-line methods to assist Nationwide Wildlife Refuges is to purchase a Migratory Chicken Searching and Conservation Stamp, or “Duck Stamp,” yearly. It’s a win-win-win: it proudly proclaims your assist of public land, it funnels cash on to the refuge system (to the tune of some $40 million per yr), and it will get you free entry to the refuges all yr.
Shopping for a Migratory Chicken Stamp is a straightforward and direct manner for individuals to contribute to grassland and wetland conservation. In 2013, the New York Instances ran a bit on the annual stamp artwork competitors; now right here’s our personal checklist of eight causes to like the stamp:
1. Over $1 billion for conservation and counting. The primary stamp was issued in 1934. It price $1 (about $18 in as we speak’s {dollars}) and bought 635,001 copies. By regulation, the funds raised go on to habitat acquisition within the decrease 48 states. By now, stamp gross sales have surpassed $1 billion and helped to guard 6.5 million acres of wetland and grassland habitat.
2. A 73-year custom of gorgeous wildlife artwork. The Migratory Chicken stamp is a fantastic collectible and an important inventive custom. Since 1949, the design of every yr’s duck stamp has been chosen in an open artwork contest. The 2022 stamp, exhibiting a pair of Redheads, was painted by James Hautman, a veteran of the competition who now has six wins to his identify (see a gallery of all stamps again to 1934).
3. A cut price at $25. Ninety-eight cents of every greenback spent on a stamp goes on to land conservation for the Nationwide Wildlife Refuge System. This $25 buy is probably the only easiest factor you are able to do to assist a legacy of wetland and grassland conservation for birds.
4. It’s far more than geese. Waterfowl hunters have lengthy been the principle supporters for this system—the stamps are a requirement for anybody 16 or older who desires to hunt. However the funds profit scores of different hen species, together with shorebirds, herons, raptors, and songbirds, to not point out reptiles, amphibians, fish, butterflies, native vegetation, and extra. (See a full illustrated historical past of how the Duck Stamp helped save North American waterfowl, from Chicken Academy.)
5. Save wetlands; save grasslands. Since 1958, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has used stamp revenues to guard “waterfowl manufacturing areas”—over 3 million acres—throughout the essential Prairie Pothole Area. The identical program additionally protects declining prairie-nesting birds within the face of accelerating lack of grasslands. In consequence, refuges are among the many finest locations to search out grassland specialties reminiscent of Bobolinks, Grasshopper Sparrows, Clay-colored Sparrows, Sedge Wrens, and others.
6. The advantages are attractive. Among the most various and wildlife-rich refuges throughout the Decrease 48 have been acquired with stamp funds. Likelihood is there’s a wildlife refuge close to you that has benefited.
7. It’s your free cross to refuges. A migratory hen stamp is a free cross for a complete yr to all refuges that cost for admission—so your $25 may even prevent cash.
8. As birdwatchers, let’s get in on the key. Although it’s lengthy been a fixture in searching circles, the Migratory Chicken Searching and Conservation Stamp is among the best-kept secrets and techniques in all of hen conservation. It’s time to purchase and present your stamp!
(Due to the Associates of the Migratory Chicken/Duck Stamp for assist in making ready this put up.)
