Danny Westneat | Taking aim at waterfowl committee | Seattle Times Newspaper

"The all-volunteer committee meets three or four times a year, usually by phone. Annual expenses are $1,000. The members choose a waterfowl painting to be featured on Washington state duck stamps. Then they negotiate deals with art galleries and publishing companies for the sale of larger, limited-edition prints.

Last year the waterfowl-art sales brought in $23,000. One year the committee enlisted the famed nature artist Robert Bateman and raised $350,000. None of this money is from the purchase of duck-hunting licenses; it's purely from duck art lovers and stamp collectors.

The profit goes to preserving wetlands and wildlife habitat.

So why kill an all-volunteer program that helps make the state money?"