Independence Post Office, Bass Pro Shops Team-Up
to Offer 2009-2010 Federal Duck Stamps on June 26

First-Day for Sale of Duck Stamps Will Include Special Postmark from 8 a.m. – 12 noon

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — The Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World's Independence retail store will join 18 other locations throughout the country on Friday, June 26th, for the First-Day of Sale of the 2009-2010 Federal Duck Stamp and Junior Duck Stamp. An employee of the U.S. Postal Service will be at the Independence Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World store between 8 a.m. and 12 noon, to sell the Duck Stamps and offer a special souvenir postmark. The Independence store is located at 18001 Bass Pro Drive.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host the official First-Day of Sale ceremony for the Federal Duck Stamp and Junior Duck Stamp at the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World retail store in Nashville, Tennessee.

The 2009–2010 Federal Duck Stamp features a long-tail duck and decoy painted by wildlife artist Joshua Spies of Watertown, South Dakota. 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, Ohio.

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.

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 to support habitat conservation. Ninety-eight percent of the proceeds from the $15 Duck Stamp go to the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund, which supports wetlands acquisition for the Refuge System.

Since its inception in 1934, sales of the Federal Duck Stamp have raised more than $700 million to acquire and protect more than 5.2 million acres of wetlands, including habitat on hundreds of the 548 national wildlife refuges spread across all 50 states and U.S. territories. A current Duck Stamp can also be used for free admission to any refuge open to the public. Refuges offer unparalleled outdoor recreational opportunities, including hunting, fishing, bird watching and photography.

First-Day souvenir postmarks of the stamp will be available at every Bass Pro Shop hosting an event, and along with other collectible items. For more details on collectible items and a list of Bass Pro locations holding First Day of Sale events, go to http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps.