UND Paur Lecture to feature winner of 2023 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest
Apr. 18—Wildlife artist Chuck Black, a UND alumnus and winner of the 2023 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, will be the keynote speaker for this year's Glenn Allen Paur Lecture.
Black, of Belgrade, Montana, graduated from UND in 2010 with a degree in wildlife biology. His presentation, "Conservation Storytelling: The Power of Art," is scheduled for noon on Friday, April 26, in the Memorial Union Henry Family Ballroom 220 on the UND campus. A reception will precede Black's lecture at 11 a.m.
The UND Chapter of The Wildlife Society hosts the annual lecture series in honor of Glenn Allen Paur, a UND biology student from Pisek, North Dakota, who died in a 1978 boating accident just days after graduation while assisting a UND professor with a research project on Leech Lake. Paur's family established the lecture series and the Glenn Allen Paur Memorial Scholarship in his memory.
Black's presentation is open to the public, and there will be free parking in the ramp adjacent to the UND Memorial Union beginning at 10 a.m., according to Susan Felege, a UND professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management and advisor of the UND Wildlife Society chapter.
Black won the 2023 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, which is about as good as it gets in the world of wildlife art, with a painting of a northern pintail. The painting will be made into the 2024-2025 Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp — or "Duck Stamp," for short — which will go on sale in June.
Proceeds from the $25 stamp, which is required for all waterfowl hunters, raises about $40 million annually to protect wetland habitat in the National Wildlife Refuge System.
In an October 2023 interview with the Herald, Black said winning the contest was "just a very surreal experience." It was his 10th time entering the Duck Stamp contest, a competition that regularly draws such renowned artists as Minnesota's Hautman brothers — Joseph, James and Robert — and South Dakota's Adam Grimm.
Black, who graduated in 2005 from Stillwater (Minnesota) Area High School, said his years in North Dakota, both as a UND student and working seasonal wildlife jobs around the state, influenced him as an artist.
"That really opened up my eyes to, I would say, the beauty that exists in places I didn't really understand," Black told the Herald. "Growing up in Minnesota, it's very picturesque rolling farm country, a lot of woods and forest and agriculture. In my mind, North Dakota was very flat and boring and not much to do — not much going on. But then after living in Grand Forks, and then all the way to the opposite corner in Medora, it really started to open up my eyes to all the places and all the inspiration that's out there in places you wouldn't expect.
"The people in North Dakota to this day are still the friendliest that I've ever encountered," he added. "And so, the culture, the beauty that's within the state, everything has kind of moved me toward being more open-minded toward exploring different areas and different places like that."
As an artist, Black says he strives to convey the importance of conserving wildlife and the habitat it needs to survive.
"My art is merely a reflection of my love for the outdoors, where true passion lies," he says on
his website,
In addition to winning the 2023 Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest, Black won the California duck stamp contest in 2015, the Colorado duck stamp contest in 2013 and placed second and third, respectively, in the 2013 Nevada duck stamp and Oregon upland stamp contests.
For more information on the upcoming Paur lecture, email the UND Chapter of The Wildlife Society at UNDtws@gmail.com.
