Council Bluffs Post Office to Commemorate New Federal Duck Stamp with Special Postmark and Envelope

The Council Bluffs Post Office will commemorate the debut of the new Federal and Junior Duck Stamps with a special postmark and commemorative envelope. Both will be available at the First Day of Sale event for the Federal Duck Stamps to be held at 9 a.m. on Friday, June 22, at Bass Pro Shops, 2901 Bass Pro Dr., Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The event, hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bass Pro Shops, and the U.S. Postal Service, is free and the public is invited to attend. During the ceremony, Council Bluffs Postmaster Jean Susnjar will sell the first Federal and Junior Duck Stamps to Council Bluffs Mayor Tom Hanafan. Similar events will be held at 42 other Bass Pro Shops across the country.

A temporary Post Office at the event will offer the special postmark, commemorative envelope, and postage stamps. The envelope features artwork of the Federal Duck Stamp and sells for $1.50. Customers may add a first-class postage stamp and/or Duck Stamp, and a special postmark to the envelope to create a unique collectible of the event.

There is no charge for the postmark, although it may only be applied to an envelope or item with First-Class postage attached. The postmark is also available through the mail. Customers should affix the postage stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to: Duck Stamp Postmark, 8 S. 6th St., Council Bluffs, IA 51501-9998. After applying the postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. Requests must be postmarked no later than July 22, 2007.

Duck Stamps are pictorial stamps produced by the Postal Service for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They are not valid for postage and cost $15 each. Originally created in 1934 as the federal licenses required for hunting migratory waterfowl, Federal Duck Stamps have a larger purpose today. Ninety-eight cents of every dollar generated by the sales of Federal Duck Stamps goes directly to purchase or lease wetland habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.