You can purchase the Duck Stamp at any staffed Federal Wildlife Refuge (such as Parker River), many Post Offices, and at MassAudubon Joppa Flats in Newburyport. For additional information on where to buy stamps, data on your dollars at work, other Program initiatives, and images of past stamps, go to http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/Stamps.htm .

The following article is from the August 2007 issue of Bird Observer. It traces the history of the Federal Duck Stamp Program and describes specific examples of wetlands and grasslands which would have been lost without this Program's funds. The article specifically focuses on the Duck Stamp's crucial role in preserving Wildlife Refuge land in New England and the Atlantic Flyway, and closes with information on how to support this important conservation program.
 

Birders Secure Plum Island, Save Birds  (Vol 35, No. 4, 2007)
   - by Brooke Stevens 

In 1928 Annie H. Brown, a long-time member of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, left $25,000 to the Federation of the Bird Clubs of New England to establish and maintain a wildlife sanctuary in Massachusetts. The Federation chose Plum Island in Essex County. The core of the new sanctuary was a parcel of 300 acres of beach, dunes, and salt marsh near the southern end of the island. The Federation later merged with Mass Audubon, which increased the sanctuary holdings to 1115 acres. The Plum Island Beach Company had already secured title to most of the northern end of the island and eventually developed hundreds of small house lots. At the other end of the island, the Bar Island Realty Company had elaborate plans for creating roads and house lots on the 400 acres that are now Sandy Point State Reservation. 

In 1942, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased the Annie H. Brown Sanctuary as part of what was to be an extended federal wildlife refuge, initially including 12,000 acres of marsh as well as all of Plum Island. Strong opposition however, came from local sportsmen who saw marshland access slipping away and from land owners whose property was being acquired through eminent domain. In the end, political pressures prevailed but the core of the original refuge was saved, and some of the land that had initially been conceded was regained. 

Today the total area of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (PRNWR) is 4662 acres, thanks to those birders who originally identified Plum Island and adjacent marshes as critical habitat for migrants using the Atlantic flyway, to a birder.s bequest that started the conservation process, to Mass Audubon which built on the core land holding, and to waterfowl hunters who purchased Migratory Bird Hunting Stamps (since 1977 officially called the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, and now commonly referred to as the .Duck Stamp.). Nearly all of the Refuge was purchased with federal Duck Stamp dollars. 

The Duck Stamp and where the money goes 

In 1934 Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist, popular conservationist, and eventual founder of the National Wildlife Federation, created a revenue stamp purchased by hunters. The proceeds were used to buy disappearing habitat for waterfowl and other wildlife. His portrait of a pair of Mallards appeared on the first Migratory Bird Hunting Stamp. Those puddle ducks launched a simple yet powerful conservation tool, raising more than $700 million that has been used to purchase more than 5.2 million acres over the years. But much more can be done to build on this success. 

Ninety-eight percent of stamp proceeds go directly to secure wetland and grassland habitat for the National Wildlife Refuge System. Everyone - birders, hunters, anglers, and other vacationers - who purchases a Duck Stamp contributes to saving wintering, migration, and breeding habitat used by a whole suite of water, marsh, and grassland birds. 

As of September 30, 2006, the National Wildlife Refuge System encompassed 96,369,969.43 acres. This includes 547 national wildlife refuges, 37 Wetland Management Districts (which include Waterfowl Production Areas in 204 counties), and 50 Coordination Areas which are managed by the states. 

Currently there is an acquisition list of high-priority properties for the refuge system that consists of 15.4 million acres with a price tag of a staggering $4 billion. With only $25 million annually coming into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund from the Stamp, there is a long waiting list. 

The Atlantic Flyway, Northeast Region, and connecting the dots 

Sixty years ago, Rachel Carson wrote: 

A striking fact about the Atlantic flyway - a fact which dominates the conservation problem - is the extremely limited area of its winter range compared with the vast extent of its breeding grounds. The nesting area extends from Greenland across much of northern Canada; the wintering grounds are confined to a narrow strip of coastal marshes along the east coast of the United States. A map of the flyway looks like a huge, distorted funnel with a long slender stem. Imagine that for one-half of the year all the contents of the funnel have to be contained within the stem and you can understand the compression of birds within their winter range . . . . Parker River is a link in the chain of refuges established at carefully chosen intervals on the Atlantic flyway . . . . Of the coastal refuges of the flyway, the migrations of birds link Parker River toward the north with Moosehorn, near Calais, Maine, and toward the south with Brigantine on the ocean coast of New Jersey, and Bombay Hook, almost directly west on the shores of Delaware Bay. Then come Blackwater in Maryland; Chincoteague and Back Bay, Virginia; Pea Island and Mattamuskeet in North Carolina; Cape Romain in South Carolina; and Savannah on the border between South Carolina and Georgia. 

The Duck Stamp at work in New England 

Historically, Duck Stamp dollars went into the acquisition of three National Wildlife Refuges in the state: Parker River, Monomoy, and Great Meadows, all of which are designated as Important Bird Areas. Since the Stamp was first issued, nearly 15,000 acres have been purchased for close to $2.5 million. Walter Quist of the 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Hadley reports that although land acquisition prices are high, the Service is still able to maximize habitat protection with Duck Stamp dollars, focusing primarily on large undeveloped wetland parcels; the mouth of the Oxbow in Northhampton is a recently approved land acquisition project. (pers comm.) In New England, recent national wildlife refuge purchases using Stamp dollars in Maine and New Hampshire have included Rachel Carson (35 acres), Lake Umbagog (250 acres), and Silvio O. Conte (499 acres).
 

What birders can do 

It's simple: buy a stamp and display it in the field. The new Duck Stamp features a pair of Ring-necked Ducks by artist Richard Clifton, a Delaware native who is an active volunteer and member of the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge friends group. It became available on July 1 and can be purchased at the Parker River Refuge, at your local post office, and online from birding groups that are currently offering the stamp along with a clear plastic key-ring type holder that can be attached to binoculars or pack. 

As a conservation donation, it [the Stamp] is unparalleled . . . . It's simply the most efficient application of your money to conservation - David Sibley (Birder's World, August 2006) 

"Exquisite waterfowl prints, painted by celebrated wildlife artists, priced at $15, and the program safeguards critical habitat? Almost sounds too good to be true. I"ve been buying duck stamps for nearly forty years and recently I've gotten into the habit of buying two." - Pete Dunne, Director of New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Bird Observatory 

Bird clubs and businesses may want to follow the example of Eagle Optics, which has recently introduced a stamp-holder and accompanying information on the stamp that is being distributed with all of its optics sales, or the Georgia and Wisconsin ornithological societies, which are selling Duck Stamps on their websites, along with a clear plastic key-ring type holder that can be attached to binoculars or pack. According to Steve Holzman, Georgia.s Business Manager, Stamp and Stamp holder sales have been brisk since December (pers. comm.). Both societies are charging the original $15 for the stamp plus a little more (up to $2) for handling and/or for the holder. This is an encouraging volunteer effort to raise visibility not only for a regional and national conservation initiative but also for bird groups and businesses. 

It's more than ducks 

The refuge habitat secured through Duck Stamp sales saves far more than ducks. After all, it.s officially called the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp. It works on behalf of shorebirds, raptors, herons, egrets, gulls, terns, and marsh-andgrassland- loving songbirds. It also works for the rest of us who enjoy birds. 

Stamp sources

The Federal Duck Stamp Program 
Georgia Ornithological Society 
Wisconsin Society for Ornithology