Note: To obtain download a 300 dpi image of the stamp, visit http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007stamps/

WASHINGTON, DC — Ten of the most beautiful wildlife and scenic U.S. postage stamps to be issued this year will be unveiled in their home setting of Rocky Mountain National Park Aug. 28. The U.S. Postal Service will bring awareness to the importance of our natural ecosystems with the issuance of the new 41-cent Nature of America: Alpine Tundrastamps.

The first-day-of-issuance ceremony will be led by David Failor, executive director Stamp Services for the Postal Service. He will be joined by Rocky Mountain National Park Superintendent Vaughn Baker and stamp artist John D. Dawson of Hilo, HI. The national stamp ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. at the Beaver Meadows Visitor Center in Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, CO.

“These stamps reflect all the beauty and majesty of one of America's most unique and diverse ecosystems,” said Failor. “As an environmental leader, the Postal Service is proud to highlight the significance of protecting our environment and preserving this great natural resource,” he added.

Depicted on the Alpine Tundra stamps are 24 animal and plant species, all of which could be encountered on Rocky Mountain's alpine tundra. The stamp is a rendering by artist Dawson, showing the diversity of the mountain's plant and animal fauna in an almost imaginary scene in his beautiful acrylic painting.

Said stamp artist John Dawson: “In nature, there is beauty in the complexity of plants and animals co-existing together in their natural setting. They are featured on the stamps together to showcase the need to help protect our ecosystems and environment.”

The stamp pane depicts a summer tundra scene about 12,000 feet high in Rocky Mountain National Park in northern Colorado. Elk and bighorn sheep graze the open areas while smaller mammals — a pika, a yellow-bellied marmot and an ermine — stay close to the rocks, ready to take cover if threatened by a predator, such as the soaring golden eagle. In the air are horned larks, recognized by the black hornlike feathers on their heads and the high-pitched, tinkling notes of their songs. Meanwhile, butterflies flit about rockslides, rest on rocks and sip nectar from alpine flowers.

The pane of ten stamps is the ninth in an educational series designed to promote the appreciation of major plant and animal communities in the United States. Previous issuances in the Nature of America series were Sonoran Desert (1999), Pacific Coast Rain Forest (2000), Great Plains Prairie (2001), Longleaf Pine Forest (2002), Arctic Tundra (2003), Pacific Coral Reef (2004), Northeast Deciduous Forest (2005) and Southern Florida Wetland (2006).

Starting Aug. 28, the stamps can be purchased online at the Postal Store on www.usps.com/shop, by calling toll-free 800-STAMP-24, at philatelic centers nationwide and at local Post Offices.

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