About This Stamp
Spanning some 2 million acres in southern Florida, from Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay, the Everglades is one of the largest wetlands in the world and the most significant breeding ground for tropical wading birds in North America. The water that flows through this vast region laces together a mosaic of distinct habitats that support more than 1,500 animal and plant species, including numerous threatened and endangered species. The art for this Priority Mail® stamp shows a sawgrass marsh as seen at sunset from the edge of a cypress dome. In the foreground, a stand of mature bald cypress trees shelters a great egret in flight while a great blue heron patiently awaits its prey. Nearby, a half-submerged American alligator — a keystone species in the Everglades — moves through the shallow, slow-moving water into the shade of the dome. In the background, the marsh meanders toward the horizon, dotted with tree islands, as roseate spoonbills and other water birds fly overhead. Life in the Everglades depends on water — and fire. In spring, rainstorms soak the region nearly every afternoon. The water that covers this low-lying landscape trickles so slowly south that it often appears not to be moving at all. In fall, the rains stop and the water recedes. Periodic fires prevent grasses and other vegetation from taking over during the dry season. They also open tree canopies to allow in more sunlight and clear the undergrowth, returning nutrients to the soil. Within just days of a fire, new growth begins to appear. Today, much of the Everglades is protected within Everglades National Park, the first U.S. national park established for its biodiversity. Tribal lands and numerous other federal state, and private parks and sanctuaries also safeguard the Everglades, including Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, and Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, which supports large colonies of wading birds and attracts thousands of migrating waterbirds every year. Designed by art director Greg Breeding, the stamp showcases a digital illustration by Dan Cosgrove.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist
Dan Cosgrove
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Dan Cosgrove graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1978 with a major in graphic design. After briefly working for the National Park Service in Denver and as a designer at Cato Johnson in Cincinnati, Cosgrove moved to Chicago in 1980 and began a freelance career in digital and traditional illustration.
Cosgrove's designs have appeared in numerous ads, posters, covers, and on packaging. Recent clients include Cunard Line, Dunlop Tire, Fiat, J P Morgan Chase, Miller Brewing Company, Netflix, The New York Times, Shell Oil company, SohoPress, and The Wall Street Journal. In recognition of his work Cosgrove has received awards from Communications Arts and the Society of Illustrators (Gold Medal).
The 2008 Express Mail® and Priority Mail® stamps featuring Mount Rushmore and Hoover Dam were Cosgrove's first projects for the U.S. Postal Service. Since then, Cosgrove has illustrated 27 additional Express Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps. Recent designs include Florida Everglades (Priority Mail) (2023), Great Smoky Mountains (Priority Mail Express) (2023), Monument Valley (Priority Mail) (2022), and Palace of Fine Arts (Priority Mail Express) (2022). He also created the stamp art for USS Missouri (2019).
Cosgrove and his wife live in Clarendon Hills, Illinois.