Stamp contest change good for all
The Federal Duck Stamp has been an unqualified conservation success since 1934.
That was the year President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp Act and launched legislation to protect and purchase wetlands vital to the survival of waterfowl and other wildlife.
It was also when J.N. "Ding" Darling, an editorial cartoonist at the Des Moines Register and eventual head of the U.S. Biological Survey, drew the first stamp. The sketch showed a drake and hen mallard dropping into a marsh.
The law requires all U.S. waterfowl hunters age 16 and older to purchase the stamp each season.
Over the past 87 years the stamp has generated about $1.1 billion in sales used to acquire 6 million acres of wetland habitats, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The program, formally known as the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, has earned a commendable record of efficiency, too.
Ninety-eight percent of stamp sales goes toward acquiring acreage in the National Wildlife Refuge System, according to the Service.
Habitats protected with duck stamp funds provide homes for numerous other birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians, too, including an estimated one-third of the nation's endangered and threatened species.
And the benefits of the Federal Duck Stamp go well beyond waterfowl hunting and wildlife.
By protecting wetlands, the program helps purify water supplies, sequester carbon, absorb flood waters and storm surges and provide economic support to local communities as they attract outdoor recreationists from many different backgrounds, according to the Service.
Yes, the Federal Duck Stamp has
The 2021-22 Federal Duck Stamp shows a drake lesser scaup, commonly called a bluebill. All waterfowl hunters age 16 and over in the U.S. are required to purchase the $25 stamp.
been a huge win for America. What it has not been is controversial. At least, not until several years ago when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made it mandatory to include a hunting component in art submitted in the annual stamp contest.
Such design features had been optional since the beginning of the program.
The alteration was dubbed "celebrating our waterfowl hunting heritage."
But the change provoked an outcry, including from many in the Friends of the Migratory Bird/Duck Stamp, an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to promotion, preservation and sales of the stamp.
Many artists didn't like it, either, and some 2020 entries included trashylooking scenes of empty shotgun shells and dilapidated hunting blinds.
The controversy isn't likely to last much longer, though.
Thousands of public comments and a change in administration in Washington, D.C. have resulted in a switch back to the former rule.
On Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service announced a final rule to remove the mandatory inclusion of a hunting element in art submitted for the contest.
The revision provides artists more flexibility when designing their entries and broadens the appeal of the duck stamp to a more diverse audience, the Service said in a statement.
Paul Wait of New London, senior director of communications for Delta Waterfowl, served as judge in the 2020 stamp contest.
He said overall he supports Tuesday's change.
"As a hunter and representative of Delta Waterfowl, I support having hunting elements in the art," Wait said by phone Wednesday afternoon. "But I also don't know if it should be mandated."
Wait said he saw firsthand many entries that looked awkward, as if the hunting element was forced into the composition.
The 2020 contest winner, which is on the 2021-22 stamp, includes wooden duck calls that are floating and appear tied by a lanyard to cattails. Not something Wait or I have ever seen in our decades of duck hunting, but alright, it's an artist's rendering.
And the lesser scaup is beautiful. Wait said while he liked the idea of a stamp that includes a hunting element, he also wants the offering to be as pleasing as possible to the most people. I agree with that wholeheartedly. The general public knows beyond any doubt that hunters are the primary driver of the hugely successful duck stamp program.
Allowing the artists to decide whether to include the hunting element, and then judges to select the best piece each year, seems like the best way to reach the ultimate goal of the program: to sell as many stamps as possible and protect as many acres of wetlands as we can.
Duck stamps on sale: The 2021-22 Federal Duck Stamp has been available since June 25.
Since the first Wisconsin waterfowl seasons open Sept. 1, here's a reminder that hunters must pick one up before their first trip afield this fall.
The $25 stamps are available at most U.S. post offices and online at store.usps.com.