DNR selects Virginia artist’s walleye painting for 2027 stamp contest

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced the winners of its fish stamp competitions, including an artist from Northern Minnesota.

One stamp depicts trout or salmon, and the other depicts walleye, according to the announcement on Aug. 3.

The DNR chose Virginia artist John Barnard’s oil painting for the walleye stamp and Minneapolis artist Melissa Mickelson’s acrylic painting of a lake trout for the trout and salmon stamp. “I just couldn’t believe it,” Barnard said.

Barnard paints as a hobby and has submitted his work for the DNR’s stamps contests since 2000. He also won the DNR’s wild turkey stamp contest in 2021.

"I’ve just been doing it for years and years,” Barnard said. “I do it because I like doing it, mostly.”

Deborah Rose

/

Minnesota DNR

Anglers ages 18-64 years old must purchase the trout and salmon stamp to fish in designated trout waters or possess trout. The revenue from these stamps supports management and habitat work for these fish.

The purchase of the $5 walleye stamp is voluntary. Even so, the stamps remain popular, according to the DNR.

“We sell about 34,000 stamps a year, so it brings in about $165,000 to $175,000 a year,” said Shannon Fisher, DNR Fisheries Populations Monitoring and Regulations manager.

Some walleye populations have struggled with changing lake conditions. Fisher said the popular game fish responds poorly to rising lake temperatures and increasing aquatic invasive species, such as zebra mussels.

The revenue from the walleye stamps is used to purchase Minnesota-sourced walleye to restock local populations of the fish.

“We try to maintain a walleye fishery in many of our lakes by introducing either fry, when they’re very small, or fingerlings, when they’re larger, to try to make sure we still have some walleye in lakes that historically had the species,” Fisher said.

You can find past and present stamps on the DNR’s website.

Stella Mayerhoff is a Report for America corps member, covering Minnesota’s headwaters region for KAXE in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Report for America places talented journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues and regions.