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The 2005 Duck Stamp Now Available

The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, common known as the Duck Stamp, has been a stunning success story over its 71-year history. Started by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service during a major wetland-and-waterfowl crisis in the mid-1930s, the stamp has been used as an effective funding tool for our wildlife refuge system. It has accrued more than $670 million and has been used to secure more than 5.2 million acres of valuable wetland habitat. About $25 million a year is currently collected through stamp sales.

Proceeds from the $15 stamp go into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, used to purchase valuable wetlands for the National Wildlife Refuge System. (Indeed, about 98 percent of the revenue from the stamp goes to the fund.) It is no accident that we may have ivory-billed woodpeckers today because parts of stamp revenue have gone to such places as Cache River and White River national wildlife refuges.

At the turn of the last century, significant bird-protection efforts arose to end the slaughter of birds. This was the country's first organized movement by people we generally know as “birders” today. The initial bird-conservation crisis in the 20th century was addressed by the Lacey Act of 1900, the creation of Pelican Island in 1903 as the first federal refuge in the country, and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. These events outlawed the indiscriminate killing of birds in this country, along with the use of their feathers for interstate trade.

A second bird crisis emerged as a result of the over-draining of wetlands, the degradation of prairie grasslands through increased monocrop agriculture, and by cycles of over-harvesting waterfowl on ever-dwindling habitat. Along with the Dust Bowl of the Depression years, these events culminated in a drastic loss of waterfowl. The Federal Duck Stamp was created in the mid-1930s to address this crisis and strengthen a National Refuge System in desperate need of support.

Following the creation of the Federal Duck Stamp in 1934, there was an exponential growth in the Refuge System over the next decade. In response to the application of scientific and increasingly modern wildlife management techniques, waterfowl populations began to rebound. The Federal Duck Stamp became central to bird conservation during this vital period.

In addition to waterfowl, numerous fish, amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal species dependent on wetland habitats have benefited from the creation of the Federal Duck Stamp. Furthermore, an estimated one-third of endangered and threatened species in the U.S. find food or shelter on refuges established through the use of Federal Duck Stamp dollars.

Among the birds directly benefiting from stamp revenues are waterbirds (such as Western grebe, least bittern, yellow rail, and black tern), shorebirds (such as black-necked stilt, American avocet, whimbrel, red knot, and Wilson's phalarope), raptors (such as swallow-tailed kite, Swainson's hawk, and golden eagle), and wetland-associated songbirds (such as vermilion flycatcher, sedge wren, prothonotary warbler, LeConte's sparrow, and tricolored blackbird).

Many of the country's most popular birding destinations are national wildlife refuges established or aided by Federal Duck Stamp dollars. Examples of such refuges include Aransas and Santa Ana in Texas, John Heinz in Pennsylvania, Sonny Bono Salton Sea in California, Ding Darling in Florida, Parker River in Massachusetts, Bombay Hook in Delaware, Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, Lostwood in North Dakota, and Great Dismal Swamp in North Carolina and Virginia.

Refuge visitation is now approaching 40 million people per year, and according to recent USFWS figures, more than 80 percent of these visitors engage in wildlife watching, specifically birds. Just as important, these visitors are part of the millions of Americans increasingly interested in wild birds and birding.

Today, birders throughout the United States may gain free admission to every national wildlife refuge in the country by purchasing a $15 Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (commonly known as a Federal Duck Stamp). Each stamp is valid for the life of the stamp, which is July 1 through June 30 of the following year.

For more information, including purchasing a Federal Duck Stamp, visit the website at http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/.