Help support this vital federal program with your purchase of a Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp known colloquially as the Duck Stamp. The program is an essential tool in purchasing refuge lands for consumptive and non-consumptive habitat conservation. Locally, Sacramento NWR, Stone Lakes NWR, and Merced NWR were 100% purchased with Duck Stamp funds. While waterfowlers are required to buy a stamp to hunt, birders who visit refuges should consider purchasing this annual stamp in support of conservation.

The Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp is for sale at refuges, sporting goods stores and US Postal Offices. Or, you can order your stamps online.

“This $25 purchase is perhaps the single simplest thing you can do to support a legacy of wetland and grassland conservation for birds,” Cornell University, All About Birds.

Hunters willingly purchase this stamp. It would be terrific if birders (and non-birders) would purchase Duck Stamps annually too. By increasing the base support of this program, the number of acres of wetland, grassland and other habitats conserved each year only increases. The funds are used to support the expansion of refuges system-wide and are used for non-consumptive, closed zones as well.  Funds from this program have been spent in all 50 states in support of refuge acquisitions. Some funds, such as in Hawaii, are used to conserve wetlands and forests for critically endangered species.