# 3293 - 1999 33c Nature of America: Sonoran Desert Desert

US #3293
1999 Sonoran Desert – Nature of America Series

• Celebrates the thriving ecosystem of the Sonoran Desert with 10 different stamp designs
• The first set in the Nature of America Series of stamps

Stamp Category:  Commemorative
Series:  Nature of America
Value:  33¢ First Class Mail Rate
First Day of Issue:  April 6, 1999
First Day City:  Tucson, Arizona
Quantity Issued:  100,000,000
Printed by:  Banknote Corporation of America
Printing Method:  Offset
Format:  Panes of 10
Perforations:  11.3 (Die-cut simulated perforations) (Rotary die cutter)
Tagging:  Block Tagging

Why the stamp was issued:  To celebrate the beauty and diversity of the Sonoran Desert and its many plants and animals.

About the stamp design:  The designs picture an acrylic painting by John Dawson of the Sonoran Desert with lavender mountains in the distance and a cloudy sky.  Dawson said the painting represented a late afternoon in spring.  The species pictured include the saguaro cactus, white-winged dove, prickly pear cactus, teddy bear cholla, desert mule deer, Gila monster, cactus wren, hedgehog cactus, brittlebush, desert tortoise, Gambel quail, desert cottontail, cactus mouse, western diamondback rattlesnake, and Gila woodpecker.  There are some other species mixed into the selvage and background of some stamps as well.  It's a fun little scavenger hunt finding them all.

First Day City:  The First Day of Issue Ceremony was held at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona.  Interestingly, the earliest-known use of a stamp from the Sonoran Desert set was on a cover machine-canceled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on March 24 – 13 days before the official release date.

About the Nature of America Series:  Introduced in 1999 with the Sonoran Desert stamps, the USPS issued six “educational stamp panes designed to promote our appreciation of the North American biomes.”  Each stamp sheet included semi-jumbo sized stamps picturing plants and animals from a different ecological community.  The stamps on each sheet combine together with the selvage to create one big image of that particular ecosystem.

History the stamp represents:  Despite its harshness, life thrives in the Sonoran Desert.  Cactus trees, paloverdes, desert tortoises, Gila monsters, and roadrunners are among the hundreds of plant and animal species that make their home there.

The Sonoran Desert lies in the arid region west of the Rocky Mountains.  It covers about 120,000 square miles of land in southern California, Arizona, and Mexico.  The Mojave, Yuma, Pima, Chemehuevi, and Papago Indian reservations are located there.  Tucson and Phoenix are two of the desert’s largest cities.  Much of the area’s rain doesn’t come until the middle of summer, when it falls in sudden downpours.

With its thick, straight trunk and sturdy, curved branches, the saguaro cactus is one of the most identifiable plants of the Sonoran Desert.  This mammoth cactus can attain a height of 50 feet and weight of eight tons over its 200 years of slow growth.  Many desert animals depend on the saguaro for nourishment and shelter, including wood rats, Gila woodpeckers, gilded flickers, elf owls, and sparrow hawks, among others.

The migration of people from overcrowded cities to the solitude of the desert has established Palm Springs, California; Scottsdale, Arizona; and other towns as popular resort areas and retirement communities.