For those of you who keep track of the national parks with stamp collections, get ready to add two new stamps to your albums.
On June 28 the U.S. Postal Service will release two new stamps for international mail. One, a 98-cent stamp for international airmail, will feature Grand Teton National Park. The other, priced at 79 cents for mail going to Mexico, displays a Zion National Park landscape.
Here's how the Postal Service describes the two:
Grand Teton
This international rate stamp in the Scenic American Landscapes series features a photograph by Dennis Flaherty (Bishop, Calif.) of Grand Teton National Park in northwestern Wyoming. The photograph was taken from the Snake River Overlook at dawn. Originally established in 1929 to protect part of the Teton Range and lakes near its base, the park was expanded in 1950 to include much of the adjacent Jackson Hole valley. Renowned for its climbing and hiking trails, the park, which encompasses nearly 310,000 acres, receives most of its nearly 2.5 million recreational visitors a year in the warm summer months, where they marvel at the park’s wildlife, including moose, bald eagles, and trumpeter swans.
Zion
This stamp in the Scenic American Landscapes series features a photograph of a sandstone formation on the east side of Zion National Park in Utah. Established in 1909 as Mukuntuweap National Monument, the park was expanded and designated a national park in 1919. Now encompassing more than 229 square miles, Zion National Park is characterized by high plateaus and mesas with deep standstone canyons carved into towering cliffs. One hundred twenty miles of hiking trails are available to the approximately 2.5 million people who annually visit the park. The photograph featured on the stamp was taken by Richard Cummins of Temecula, Calif.
The timing of the Zion stamp is particularly noteworthy, as the park marks its centennial this year.
If we hear news of First-Day-Issue events in Jackson or Springdale we'll pass it on.
Comments
The Zion stamp shows not exactly an iconic landmark of the park, so I doubt it really can raise the attention it would deserve. The Teton Range over Jackson Hole is a classic and the image with fog raising from Snake River is beautiful.
I was a National Park ranger at Grand Teton National Park and that picture is a popular one and will make a beautiful stamp!
Information on Zion First Day of Sale and cachets can be found on the Zion Natural History Association (park non-profit) website, http://www.zionpark.org.
Thanks!