The Commemorative Stamp you noticed on your Palaver invitation, is the direct result of a group of concerned citizens who, in the early 1920’s, noticed an alarming decline in the waterfowl population in the United States. Indiscriminate hunting of wild geese and ducks played a large part in this population decrease, similar to that of the Passenger Pigeon, whose last surviving member died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914, and the Bison which was now near extinction. Along with the hunting, however, severe droughts during this period were destroying much of the waterfowl habitat.
Thus it was deemed necessary, in order to preserve the waterfowl, to first establish wetland preserves. With this thought in mind, in 1929 Congress passed a law which was called, "The Migratory Bird Conservation Act", another example of passing a law only to discover they were no closer to a solution of the problem than before. There was no provision in this Act for the funding for the acquisition of wildlife habitats. Back to the drawing board and five years later, in 1934, Congress passed yet another law called, "The Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp Act". This law required all hunters of waterfowl to purchase and carry with them a Federal Revenue Stamp, the proceeds to be used to buy or lease waterfowl habitat.
The design for this first "Duck Stamp" was a painting entitled, "Mallards Dropping In". The artist, Jay Norwood Darling (1876-1962), was an American cartoonist and Conservationist. This was the design selected for the Commemorative Stamp, "Preserving Wetlands" we used on our Palaver invitation.
Incidentally, the original "Duck Stamp" sold for $1.00 as opposed to its current $7.50 price tag. Today, an unused original is worth $300.00 to collectors.
|
