What We Do

A four-part curriculum guide with activities and resources can be used as a year-round study plan to assist students in exploring science in real-life situations. Using scientific and wildlife observation principles, students are encouraged to communicate visually what they have learned through an entry into the Junior Duck Stamp art contest. This non-traditional pairing of subjects brings new interest to both the sciences and the arts. It crosses cultural, ethnic, social and geographic boundaries to teach greater awareness of our nation's natural resources.

Approximately 20,000 students entered state art contests in 2019. By displaying student artwork and delivering waterfowl and wetland related outdoor activities, state coordinators share student accomplishments with over 300,000 students, families and communities annually. Several students who have participated in the program have gone on to become full-time wildlife artists and conservation professionals; many attribute their interest and success to their early exposure to the Junior Duck Stamp Program.

Our Programs

Our Services

Each year, students in kindergarten through grade twelve compete in a free wildlife art contest. The object of the contest for students to show what they have learned about waterfowl and wetland conservation by drawing or painting a native North American duck, goose or swan. The national best of show artwork provides the design for the Junior Duck Stamp, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sells for $5.