Maryland artist Bob Bealle's 2010-11 Federal Duck Stamp design is going onto a bigger and better stage: a special-edition envelope that will raise money to buy Gulf Coast wetlands for inclusion in the national wildlife refuge system.
The cachet features the Duck Stamp, which depicts an American wigeon painted by Bealle, on a silk rendering of an award-winning photograph by David Moynahan of St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge on Florida's Gulf Coast.
Bealle's design was chosen last October over 223 other entries at an annual art competition judged at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel. Bealle, a former taxidermist with a family farm in Waldorf, is a three-time winner of the Maryland Migratory Game Stamp competition, most recently in 2008-2009.
The special-edition cachet will cost $25, $15 more than a regular Federal Duck Stamp. It is available from Amplex Corp., the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's distributor, by calling 1-800-852-4897 or on line at http://www.duckstamp.com.
Bass Pro Shops is underwriting the first edition of the cachet and will market the envelope and stamp in its retail stores across America and Canada.
Since 1934, sales of Federal Duck Stamp have generated more than $750 million to buy and protect more than 5.3 million acres of wetlands, including habitat in National Wildlife Refuges spread across all 50 states and U.S. territories. In the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Duck Stamp money has been used to acquire more than 31,000 acres on 15 national wildlife refuges.
Each year, all migratory bird hunters must buy a Federal Duck Stamp, formally called the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, in addition to state licenses, stamps and permits. The stamps have become popular with collectors and wildlife art enthusiasts as well as people who want to donate to wetland conservation.