So how would I duplicate the system that hunters have created — to protect game species — for the sake of non-hunted migratory birds? Make birders pay a fee for use of any federal or state wildlife areas. A birder will have to buy a migratory bird stamp and display it on their binoculars or their car to prove they have paid. The money for the stamp will be directed at two main goals: create more opportunities to view bird and other wildlife and increase the opportunities for migrant birds to successfully breed, stopover and winter. The stamp money would go directly to national wildlife refuge system and to each states land management system. Birders will form new alliances to oversee the program and, because they will pay for the work of what often appears to be largely-unresponsive wildlife agencies, birders will have greater control. Birders will have the same power as sportsmen, more perhaps because the number of sportsmen are declining while birders still increase in number.
What would it cost? Ding Darling set the price of the waterfowl stamp at $1 in 1934. Today that would equal less than $16.00, so a $15.00 stamp is just right. Fifteen dollars to a birder is not quite pocket change, but let’s be frank, birders earn more than the average American, they are more educated, they spend a good deal of money on optics, field guides, field clothing, ecotourist vacations, and yet they do almost nothing wildlife management agencies except pay taxes — just like everybody else.
It’s time to take charge, and a well funded program is the only way for a user group to take charge. Birders need to step forward and save the birds they care for so much.
