Habitat & Conservation  |  09/06/2023

Podcast Ep. 229: The Federal Duck Stamp Creates Great Habitat for Upland Birds


17760ad5-95e3-44dd-a044-75ab97bfa8cc
Host Bob St.Pierre is joined by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Project Leader Scott Glup, PF & QF Director of Conservation Delivery for the Midwest Eran Sandquist, and Public Land Tees co-owner Sam Soholt for a discussion about how the federal Duck Stamp also creates habitat for upland birds.

Episode Highlights:
  • Glup starts the conversation with a brief history of the federal Duck Stamp’s origin story. He also talks about how Fred Staunton, a biologist from South Dakota, fought to use Duck Stamp dollars for the purchase of small wetlands for public access which we now know as Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs).  
  • Sandquist then explains the habitat value of WPAs for upland birds and how PF & QF partners with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to facilitate WPA acquisitions and habitat restorations.  
  • Soholt closed the episode with an overview of the Stamp It Forward program, which has purchased more than $150,000 in Duck Stamps over the last four years. Soholt then explains this year’s effort, called the “Prairie Pothole Duck Ruck,” which has a goal of generating $100,000 for the purchase of 4,000 Duck Stamps powered by Soholt walking 100 miles from North Dakota to South Dakota’s Sand Lake Wildlife Refuge.  
Learn more at PublicLandTees.com/DuckRuck