Comments (17) | Add a comment
Jane Ann Morrison
Flag looks fine but Nevada stamp riles native plant fans
Tools
More Columns
More Blogs
Clark County firefighters who raise money for charity must now do it on their own time
Applause for Beers at GOP dinner thundering
National spotlight on Mob Museum highlights 'Sin City'
Morse Arberry Jr. reaches plea deal; charges to be knocked down to misdemeanor
Commissioner needs to choose his battles wisely
Once again, Nevada has been placed in a false light, this time by the villainous U.S. Postal Service. Will the distortion never cease?
On Wednesday in Carson City, a new commemorative Nevada stamp will be unveiled with some serious hoopla, including Gov. Jim Gibbons and Jim Bilbray, a former Democratic congressman and member of the national postal service board. (The stamp itself has been on sale since Friday, since the postal service needs to make all the money it can get.)
The ocotillos to the right of the flag are the deceivers. Ocotillos are not native to Nevada.
They will grow here, but they aren't native. Native plant lovers are peeved.
Now, this isn't the kind of anti-government disgust that's going to rally thousands of Tea Party types to march on Carson City. But for those who take their plants seriously, such as Sonja Kokos and Matt Hamilton of the Nevada Native Plant Society, it's an affront.
"We have one of the highest plant diversities in the world," said Kokos, president of the plant society. "This is very disappointing."
As you can see, the stamp is pretty. But for purists, if it's not indigenous, it fails the authenticity test.The postal service has wronged Nevada.
The distinctive plant grows naturally in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts ranging from southeastern California to West Texas and down into Mexico. But in Nevada, someone has to plant it.
It's too late now, but Kokos and Hamilton offered alternatives. The bristlecone pine, the state tree and the oldest living thing on earth, would have been native. A Joshua tree would have worked, even a Yucca. But those aren't particularly colorful. Kokos suggested the Las Vegas bear poppy, which is colorful, but then folks in the rest of Nevada would have felt slighted by a plant that includes the words Las Vegas.
When I called the U.S. Postal Service for comment, spokesman David Rupert said this is the first stamp in the Flags of the Nation series that has generated controversy.
(He's from Nevada, so he must know we're a proud but prickly people, although few of us are indigenous.)
Rupert said elements in the stamp are meant to be "snapshots of the state."
"According to the design standards, the stamp was designed to depict a 'typical' plant found in the state," Rupert said. "It's just meant to show to the rest of the nation what they generally might see on a Sunday afternoon drive in Nevada.
"The mountains on the stamp are not meant to reflect one range either. However, the flag is a perfect representation." (Considering how small the stamp is, that's no mean feat.)
The stamp's designer is a Delaware artist, Tom Engeman. For all the states, he was instructed to portray an ordinary scene or activity, or a typical plant or animal, but the stamps were not meant to be restricted to official plants, animals or products.
The Flags of the Nation stamps are released in a group, and sold as a group, so you can't buy Nevada stamps individually. But you can buy a roll of 50 for $22 and you'll get five stamps each honoring Nevada, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, plus the U.S. flag.
The public is invited to the 11 a.m. ceremony Wednesday on the steps of the Capitol.
No massive protests are expected.
Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/morrison.
Trending topics:
Comments
Terms & Conditions
The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The Review-Journal does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please use the Report Abuse button.
Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 24 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
@Non-Native-
"Un-educated"? Really? "In-bread"? Seriously? "...specie..." ?
For some reason, the image of someone standing in a room full of mirrors and throwing rocks comes to mind. Please tell me this is some lame attempt at humor/ performance art.
I think the ocotillos fits just fine. It fits the personally of most people that live here.
Indigenous specie of NV:
White
Un-educated
Poor
In-bread
Racists
Thinks NV was a battle front in the Civil War when New Mexico had just as many battles
Cares more about NV than the United States
You're lucky other species are moving in.
It's Bush's fault!!!!!
What is the big deal? They put the mustang on the state quarter, and we all know that they are not native to Nevada.