On September 28 and 29, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will host the 2012 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest.  Although I will not be able to attend this year’s contest, I can tell you from past experience that this is an exciting event.  Think about it: Hundreds of artists enter the contest (192 this year), and at the end of two days of judging by a panel of five individuals, one piece of art is chosen to appear on next year’s Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp.

Joseph Hautman of Plymouth, Minnesota, won the 2011 Federal Duck Stamp Contest with his acrylic painting of a single wood duck.

For the first time in the 79-year history of the Federal Duck Stamp, we are holding the contest in the Service’s Mountain-Prairie Region, in Ogden, Utah. Why Ogden?  First, we have found a terrific partner in Weber State University, site for the judging and other contest-related events. 

CAN'T GO? Watch the contest live online

Ogden also offers a great opportunity to see Duck Stamp dollars at work, about 30 miles up the road at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge.  This refuge is a hallmark example of the Federal Duck Stamp’s conservation legacy and one of the crown jewels of the 150-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System.

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When I talk with our state partners -- whether in meetings of the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies or at less-formal get-togethers to discuss the latest conservation news -- I can’t shake the image of Ben Franklin.

After the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Franklin said: “We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

He understood that for a revolution to succeed against monumental odds, cooperation and unity were imperative. With all the mind-boggling challenges facing conservation, a revolution is surely needed, and we cannot achieve success without unity.

So we come together at every opportunity to figure out innovative ways for us to cooperate and develop new solutions to problems like climate change, water scarcity or habitat fragmentation.

Sure, they have their own budgets, rules and duties. But when it comes down to it, we share a most-basic cause with our state partners –- the protection and restoration of our nation’s fish and wildlife heritage.

We might be able to explain our differences, but I know that neither the American public nor the fish and wildlife resources we manage cares a bit about what’s a federal role and what’s a state one.

We can’t afford to either.

These are tough times for conservation. Many state agency budgets have been drastically reduced, while others are under enormous pressure. At the federal level, we face the prospect of significant cuts to essential conservation programs -– including those benefiting state conservation efforts.

We must work together and we are. Conservation efforts for the greater-sage grouse, the New England cottontail, the Apache trout and many species involve the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, our state partners, tribes and other interested parties.

In his book Poor Richard’s Almanac, Franklin wrote, “When the well’s dry, we know the worth of water.” The country has realized the worth of native fish and wildlife, it is up to all of us -– the Service, the states, everyone -– to work together and ensure the well never runs dry.

Every so often, I get a staggering reminder of just how much the American people care about conservation.

Today is the first anniversary of the Save Vanishing Species semipostal stamp, which was created to raise public awareness and garner support for global conservation efforts. 

Featuring a beautiful drawing of an Amur tiger cub by artist Nancy Stahl, the stamps cost just slightly more than first-class postage and the extra goes to international conservation. By the end of August, 14.9 million stamps had been sold, raising more than $1.5 million.

Just astonishing!

The picture of the tiger cub is especially fitting because only about 400 Amur tigers are thought to still live in the wild.

Proceeds directly benefit the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife Without Borders - Multinational Species Conservation Funds, which have funded more than 1,800 grants for tigers, elephants, great apes, rhinos, gorillas, chimpanzees and sea turtles.

This stamp is available in U.S. post offices and at USPS.com. Thank you for your support of this project and for your efforts to help us stamp out extinction.