Included in the E-bulletin supplied to this list is yet another plea
(see below) for birders to buy duck stamps. Like all the other come-ons,
it advises us to buy a duck stamp so we can save money we'd otherwise
spend on NWR admission fees.
        Visiting just four or five of the refuges cited without paying an entry
fee will save you more money than the stamp costs, to their loss.
Increasing funding for the refuges is a good idea in the current
situation, but selling stamps by promising us we'll dodge fees sounds
like a bad one.  Spending more tax money on the refuges is a better one;
wildlife habitat needs help from everyone, not just hunters and birders.
Is selfishness the only way to promote conservation? In the meantime,
let's at least stop selling stamps with one hand and starving refuges
with the other.
Bill Whan
Columbus

"If you want a free pass to all National Wildlife Refuges that charge
for entry - Santa Ana NWR in Texas, Forsythe NWR in New Jersey, Bosque
del Apache NWR in New Mexico, Ding Darling NWR in Florida, Bombay Hook
NWR in Delaware, Parker River NWR in Massachusetts, Ridgefield NWR in
Washington, and more - get yourself the latest Migratory Bird Hunting
and Conservation Stamp, often called the "Duck Stamp."

Carrying the stamp constitutes a free pass to all the NWRs in the US
that charge for entry. The latest Stamp was released for sale at the end
of June. This is the first of these stamps to cost $25, an increase of
$10 over the previous price of the stamp. The new stamp shows a lovely
pair of Ruddy Ducks, an image painted by Jennifer Miller, of Olean, New
York. Miller is only the third woman ever to have her art grace a
Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp.

Besides being a free NWR pass through next June and a fine collection
item, it is a true conservation-funding vehicle. Proceeds from the Stamp
go into the Migratory Bird Conservation Fund (MBCF) to secure habitat in
the National Wildlife Refuge System, mostly grasslands and wetlands today.

If access matters, so should holding a Migratory Bird Hunting and
Conservation Stamp."

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