STEINER TAKES DUCK STAMP HONORS (Long msg)

Norm Saunders (osprey@mtolympus.ari.net)
Sat, 8 Nov 1997 03:55:08 -0500 

For those of you who enjoy the Duck Stamp as a work of art as well as 
an entry pass to the refuges:

                   STEINER TAKES TOP HONORS AT
             1997 FEDERAL DUCK STAMP ART COMPETITION

On November 6, Robert Steiner's acrylic portrait of a male
Barrow's goldeneye was chosen over 379 other entries to become
the design for the 1998-99 Migratory Bird Hunting and
Conservation Stamp, better known as the Duck Stamp.  

All waterfowl hunters age 16 and older are required to purchase
and carry Duck Stamps when hunting.  The stamps have also become
increasingly popular among stamp collectors and non-hunting
wildlife enthusiasts, who see the purchase as an effective way to
contribute to wildlife habitat conservation.   Ninety-eight percent of
the $15 purchase price is used to acquire wetlands for ducks and other
species.

This was the 17th time Steiner has entered the Federal Duck Stamp
Contest.  He submitted a version of this painting 2 years ago and it
placed third.  When contacted at his studio in San Francisco,
California, Steiner said, "I did have a good feeling about this piece.
 I just put the earlier version up in front of me and asked myself,
'How can I improve on that?'  I was actually a little surprised at how
much improving I was able to do."

Steiner is a professional artist who owns his own print
publishing company.  He paints primarily waterfowl and
retrievers, although he sometimes paints other subjects.  He has
won 41 state duck stamp competitions, a record in wildlife art,
as well as the 1995 California upland game bird stamp contest.

Second place went to Dan Smith of Bozeman, Montana, for his
acrylic rendering of a pair of Barrow's goldeneyes.  Smith won
the 1987 contest with his painting of a snow goose.  Harold Roe
of Sylvania, Ohio, took third place with his acrylic painting of
a mottled duck.

Barrow's goldeneyes are found chiefly in Alaska and western
Canada.  Breeding areas also include the Cascade Mountains of
Oregon, Washington, and California and the Idaho, Montana, and
Wyoming Rockies.  In the West, they winter along the Pacific
Coast from the Aleutians to San Francisco and in the East, along
the coasts of southwestern Greenland, Newfoundland, and New
England.  There are also concentrated wintering populations in
Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.  Barrow's goldeneyes are year-round
residents of Iceland.  

The male Barrow's golden-eye is a striking black-and-white bird
with dark purple head.  There is an irregular white patch between the
eye and bill, which is gray.  The female has a brownish head, white
neck and belly, mottled gray back and wings, and yellow bill.  As the
name suggests, the eyes of both male and female are yellow-gold. 
Barrow's goldeneyes usually nest in tree cavities, sometimes as high
as 50 feet above the ground, and feed primarily on aquatic insects,
mollusks, and crustaceans.

This is the first time the Barrow's goldeneye has been featured
on a Duck Stamp.  This year, artists were limited to depicting
black scoters, Barrow's goldeneyes, or mottled ducks.  Species
eligible for next year's contest are the ruddy duck, northern
pintail, greater scaup, black duck, and green-winged teal. 
Artists are limited to particular species so that, by the year
2002, all North American waterfowl species will have appeared on
a Duck Stamp at least once.

The Interior Department's U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sponsors the
annual Duck Stamp Art Competition to choose the design for the
following year's stamp.  Although no cash prize is given at this, the
only Federally sponsored art contest, winning artists stand to gain
hundreds of thousands of dollars through the sale of limited edition
prints and licensed products bearing the image of their designs.  They
also receive a pane of stamps bearing their design.

In an entertaining twist to this year's contest, the opening
ceremonies included an appearance by a quartet of trained mallard
ducks from the Peabody Orlando Hotel.  The three hens and one drake
marched around the Interior Department auditorium, to the delight of
audience and officials alike.  Both Peabody hotels feature a
duck-themed decor and, through a partnership with the Fish and
Wildlife Service, now are an official outlet for the sale of Duck
Stamps.

The Duck Stamp Program was initiated in 1934 when Jay N. "Ding"
Darling designed the first Duck Stamp following "user pay"
legislation supported by waterfowl hunters and conservationists,
who were alarmed by waterfowl declines during the Dust Bowl Era. For
the next 14 years, Duck Stamp designs came from artwork commissioned
by the Fish and Wildlife Service.  The first Duck Stamp contest was
held in 1949 with eight entries.

The top 20 paintings from this year's contest will be displayed
at the Easton Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, November
14-16.  

Duck Stamps bearing this year's winning design will go on sale at Post
Offices, national wildlife refuges, the Peabody hotels in Memphis and
Orlando, national retail chain stores, and various sporting-goods
stores nationwide July 1, 1998.  The Fish and Wildlife Service is
working with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to develop a
self-adhesive version of the Duck Stamp, which is expected to be
available for the first day of sale.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal
agency responsible for conserving, protecting, and enhancing fish and
wildlife and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American
people.  The Service manages 511 national wildlife refuges covering 92
million acres, as well as 67 national fish hatcheries.

The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, manages migratory bird
populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and
restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, administers the Endangered
Species Act, and helps foreign governments with their conservation
efforts.  It also oversees the Federal Aid program that funnels
Federal excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state
wildlife agencies.  This program is a cornerstone of the Nation's
wildlife management efforts, funding fish and wildlife restoration,
boating access, hunter education, shooting ranges, and related
projects across America.


                              -FWS-


Editors Note:  Black-and-white glossy prints and color slides are
available on loan from the Fish and Wildlife Service's Duck Stamp
Program Office, 202-2028-4354.