The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host the First Day of Sale for the 2009-2010 Federal Duck Stamp and Junior Duck Stamp on June 26 at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World retail store in Nashville, TN.

 

Bass Pro Shops will also be sponsoring First Day of Sale events at eighteen other retail stores throughout the country that day. The 2009-2010 Federal Duck Stamp features a long-tail duck and decoy painted by wildlife artist Joshua Spies of Watertown, SD. Last fall, a panel of five judges chose Spies' art to grace the new Duck Stamp from among 270 paintings at the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest in Bloomington, Minnesota.

 

The new Junior Duck Stamp, featuring a single wood duck, was created by Lily Spang, a 16-year-old from Toledo, OH. Spies and Spang will both be on hand at the June 26 ceremony, as will U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Acting Director Rowan Gould, and Bass Pro Shops Director of Conservation Martin MacDonald.

 

“In 1934, an innovative partnership between waterfowl hunters and the federal government created the Federal Duck Stamp Program to help provide funds for waterfowl conservation,” said Gould. “A lot has changed since that time, but this mainstay program continues to succeed thanks to many dedicated and valued partners – from hunters to stamp collectors to conservationists, the U.S. Postal Service and private corporations such as Bass Pro Shops.”

 

Since the first Federal Duck Stamp sale in 1934, a postmaster has sold the very first stamp to the Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Nashville Postmaster Dave Vale will continue this tradition by selling the first new Federal Duck Stamp and Junior Duck Stamp to Acting Director Gould. All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to purchase and carry a current Federal Duck Stamp, but conservationists, birders, stamp collectors and others also buy the stamp and support habitat conservation.

 

98% of the proceeds from the $15 Duck Stamp go to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, which supports wetlands acquisition for the Refuge System. First Day cancellations of the stamp will be available at every Bass Pro Shops hosting an event, and along with other collectible items.