Rain forest postage stamp released this month

The Hawaiian rain forest is coming to the Bluffton post office in August.

Featuring a Hawaiian rain forest, the 2010 Nature of America issuance is the 12th stamp pane in an educational series focusing on the beauty and complexity of major plant and animal communities in the United States.

Located in the north-central Pacific Ocean, the Hawaiian Islands are more than 2,000 miles from any continental landmass, a fact that has allowed many unique species to develop and thrive here. According to some estimates, over 90 percent of Hawaii's 20,000 native terrestrial species are found nowhere else on Earth.

Artist John D. Dawson painted the scene and each of the previous ones in the Nature of America series.

Previous issuances in the Nature of America series were Sonoran Desert (1999), Pacific Coast Rain Forest (2000), Great Plains Prairie (2001), Longleaf Pine Forest (2002), Arctic Tundra (2003), Pacific Coral Reef (2004), Northeast Deciduous Forest (2005), Southern Florida Wetland (2006), Alpine Tundra (2007), Great Lakes Dunes (2008), and Kelp Forest (2009).