The first Federal Duck Stamp in 1934 by Jay N. "Ding" Darling.

2009 Duck Stamp by Joshua Spies

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service debuted their 2009-2010 duck stamp on June 26th. The stamp features a long-tail duck and decoy painted by wildlife artist Joshua Spies of Watertown, S.D. 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 Federal Duck Stamp program began in 1934 when Jay M. "Ding" Darling, a famous cartoonist and conservationist conceived the idea to raise money for the purchase of wetlands. Since then sales of the stamps 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 is also good for free admission to any refuge open to the public.

Read more about the Federal Duck Stamp program.