Bill to Double Price of Duck Stamps OKd

The House gave final congressional approval Tuesday to a bill that would double the $7.50 price of duck stamps sold to waterfowl hunters to help finance the acquisition of wetlands as habitats and breeding grounds for migratory birds.

The Senate-passed bill, approved by the House on a voice vote, would raise the price of duck stamps to $15 over the next five years. It also would extend authority for a $200-million congressional loan to a waterfowl conservation fund, to be repaid by receipts from the sale of duck stamps.

Since the fund was established in the 1930s, the duck stamp program has spent more than $300 million to acquire more than 3.6-million acres of waterfowl habitat.