RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 24, 2005) – More than 500 wildlife art lovers, outdoors enthusiasts and conservationists gathered at the Washington Civic Center in Beaufort County on Feb. 4, to view the unveiling of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s 2005 Waterfowl Stamp and Print portrait. The unveiling was held during a reception and show preview at the 10th Annual East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and Duck Carving Championships.

“Green-winged Teal at J. Morgan Futch Game Land,” by Pennsylvania artist Gerald Putt, portrays a pair of brilliantly colored green-winged teal at rest on the popular waterfowl impoundment, which is located in Tyrrell County. The acrylic portrait is the fourth in a series of five paintings that reflects waterfowl hunting traditions on Commission-owned game lands and impoundments.

Representing the Wildlife Commission at the unveiling were former Wildlife Resources Commissioner and current N.C. Rep. Arthur Williams of Washington, Wes Seegars, current Wildlife Commissioner and Richard Hamilton, Director of the Wildlife Commission.

Signed and numbered regular edition prints with mint stamps of the portrait will be available from the Wildlife Commission on July 1 for $145. The stamp is $10. Visit the N.C. Wild Store for more information.

About the N.C. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp and Print Program

The N.C. Waterfowl Conservation Stamp and Print program, established in 1983 by the Wildlife Commission, generates revenue for waterfowl conservation in the state, including acquiring and improving habitat. Proceeds from the sale of stamps and prints are designated for the Commission’s Waterfowl Fund, which has raised more than $4.2 million since its inception.

The money is used to help North Carolina meet its financial obligations in implementing the North American Waterfowl Management Plan, the international agreement helping restore waterfowl populations throughout the continent. In addition, funds have been used to support Canada geese research and to buy equipment used to manage wetlands.

About J. Morgan Futch Game Land

Located approximately seven miles east of Columbia on U.S. 64, J. Morgan Futch Game Land comprises almost 600 acres of habitat suitable for a variety of wildlife: 70 acres of shallow ponds managed for waterfowl, 60 acres of shrub-and-pine forest and 470 acres of diked and impounded agricultural fields.

Green-winged teal, like the ones featured in the Wildlife Commission’s 2005 Waterfowl Stamp and Print, are one of the more populous ducks found on the game land and are joined by significant numbers of other wintering waterfowl, such as wood ducks, mallards, blue-winged teal, black ducks, ringnecks, swans and Canada geese.

See the game lands map (pdf) for more information.

About the Artist – Gerald Putt

A nationally renowned waterfowl artist for more than 25 years, Gerald Putt enjoys a stellar reputation in the wildlife arts world, having compiled an impressive list of wins in wildlife art stamp competitions. In addition to being selected as North Carolina’s duck stamp artist for 2005, he has won Pennsylvania’s prestigious duck stamp contest for an unprecedented sixth time.

His realistic portrayals of wildlife and their habitats have earned him Best of Show and People’s Choice honors at other wildlife art shows, as well as state and national competitions.

Putt grew up in Boiling Springs, Pa., where a picturesque log building serves as his studio and wildlife gallery. The ducks on the lake in his hometown inspired him at a young age and later became one of his first subjects.

Putt is an avid waterfowl hunter and outdoorsman, often spending hours in the field capturing on film what he later paints on canvas. Although birds are his first love, he is equally adept at artistically representing other game animals, such as the elusive wild turkey, the white-tailed deer and the majestic elk of Yellowstone Park.

About the East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival

The East Carolina Wildlife Arts Festival and North Carolina Decoy Carving Championships are annual highlights for Washington, which sits on the scenic Pamlico River in northeastern North Carolina. The festival is sponsored by the East Carolina Wildfowl Guild, a 70-member group of local carvers and wildlife artists dedicated to providing educational activities associated with wildlife art and the preservation of eastern North Carolina’s wildlife heritage.

With its thousands of attendees whose interests lie in the conservation and management of our state’s wildlife resources, the festival has been an ideal venue for the Commission’s waterfowl stamp unveiling since 1996. Each year, the unveiling occurs during the Friday evening corporate reception amid hundreds of onlookers.

In addition to the more than 100 wildlife art exhibitors, the festival featured many other wildlife-related events, including 11 duck-carving competition divisions, retriever demonstrations, wildlife art and decoy auctions, a children’s decoy-painting contest and various waterfowl-calling contests

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