Pleasanton educator's other passion: ducks Pleasanton educator's other passion: ducks (November 18, 2005)

By Jeb Bing

The excitement of another duck hunting season is here and few Californians have more passion to see hunters get back in the field to enjoy their favorite pastime than Carlo Vecchiarelli of Pleasanton. The long-time owner of the Dolls and Ducks retail store on Main Street, Vecchiarelli and his friend and artist Rich Radigonda have been selected by the state to publish the 2005 California Duck Stamp, which shows their favorite duck, the California Pintail. The Pintails population, once estimated at more than 8 million, has been dropping over the years as their nesting habitats have been destroyed by farming and urban growth. Today, Vecchiarelli believes there are fewer than 3 million. As a result, where once hunters were allowed to bag up to seven Pintails a season - and some took many more - the limit today is only one and game wardens are patrolling the marshlands where this particular species of ducks is hunted.

According to Vecchiarelli, the Pintail, unlike other types of ducks, doesn't like to have is habitat disturbed by nearby activities, including farming, traffic and people. Fees paid for federal and state duck stamps are used to improve and expand the areass Pintails and other ducks inhabit, with federal funds allocated to purchase easements on private lands to prevent development and ensure the future of wetland habitat. Vecchiarelli worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in introducing this concept to the grasslands of California's Central Valley, which includes 22,000 acres of ranchland that he brought under federal easements near Los Banos to protect duck habitats from urban developers. While geese and mallards have adapted to urban development, some ducks are less forgiving, which is why the thousands of flocks of ducks once seen in the marshlands of Pleasanton have largely disappeared over the last 50 years as the city and the Tri-Valley have been paved over with homes, businesses, streets and parking lots.

Vecchiarelli published his first book on federal duck stamps in 1978, and he has served as a judge in several duck stamp competitions, including two in California. With Vecchiarelli and Radigonda chosen as the artist and publisher of the 2005 state duck stamp, they are also given the opportunity to publish limited edition prints that are sold to the public. Each year, more than $1 million is raised in California from the sale of the duck stamps by the more than 70,000 Californians who hunt waterfowl in the state. Dolls and Ducks will produce 2,000 signed and numbered limited edition prints in four editions, including state, executive and medallion editions and a special edition to be signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The prints may appreciate in value, offering investment return for the buyers, and the royalties paid for the prints produce additional revenue for habitat enhancement and waterfowl conservation.

Vecchiarelli, 63, who was elected last year to the Chabot-Las Positas College board of directors, is a lifelong educator who took up duck hunting with his father as a young boy. He joined Chabot College in 1968 after teaching at Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) and in 1975 was named Dean of Admissions for the newly-created college district. Last year, he was inducted into the Chabot Sports Hall of Fame for meritorious service. For the last 15 years, Vecchiarelli and his wife Geri owned and operated Dolls and Ducks, a sports gift store and always a leading outlet for prized collections - dolls handled by Geri, game collections, decoys and duck prints by Carlo and even baseball stamps by their son. Although the Vecchiarellis retired and closed their store late last year, they still stay active at conventions, including one of the world's largest collectors' meetings held each year in St. Charles, Ill., west of Chicago. And it's no penny ante hobby. Vecchiarelli said it's not uncommon for turn-of-the-20th Century duck decoys to sell for $30,000 and more, and one antique decoy recently sold for $699,000. A friend found two old decoys at an Alameda garage sale and re-sold them for $20,000. Vecchiarelli's passion for ducks is also one that has its financial rewards as well as maintaining and expanding duck habitats.

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