The European Peacock butterfly….

Date of Issue : 20 August 2013

Here are some new SEPAC stamps. Aland Post issues a beautiful stamp on European Peacock butterfly.The European Peacock butterfly belongs to the family Nymphalidae and has a wingspan of 55 to 65 mm. All smartphone or tablet PC users can join the European Peacock butterfly for an enticing visit to several tourist attractions in Åland.

With this stamp, you do not only get a lovely and colourful stamp but also an interesting device. If you have a smartphone or a tablet computer you can download a free app by the name Sepac stamps. When you later scan the stamp, an entirely new world reveals itself!

This is a so-called AR-application. AR stands for augmented reality, which implies that information from your physical surroundings is mixed with three-dimensional information via the app. Scan the Peacock stamp and join the butterfly for a virtual tour around Åland, taking part of information and interesting facts about the Åland attractions Kobba klintar, Kastelholm castle, Bomarsund fortress, Pommern museum ship and the Maritime Museum.

Forthcoming Sepac stamps

Iceland

Date of Issue : 12 September 2013

Guernsey

Date of Issue : 24 September 2013

SEPAC

The Small European Postal Administration Cooperation (also Small European Postal Administrations Cooperation or SEPAC) is an association of 13 European postal authorities. They are Åland, the Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Greenland, Guernsey, Iceland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City. SEPAC is smaller than PostEurop. Luxembourg was not originally a member of SEPAC but it joined at the end of 2006. Also Vatican City joined subsequently.

The first joint issue of SEPAC postage stamps occurred on October 1, 2007. Further joint issues within the group are scheduled every two years, in 2009 and 2011 (San Marino does not participate in these issues).

The following criteria are requisites for membership:

• The postal administration must be located in Europe
• The postal administration must be independent
• The postal administration must have a small market with more than 50% of its philatelic customers living outside the country.

 

Articles

Wildfire threatens World Heritage Area of ‘Yosemite National Park’

- Pradeep Kumar Mallik

A wildfire in California (USA) has, raging since last 11 days, scorched an area nearly as large as New York City near Yosemite National Park. The so-called Rim Fire has charred about 280 square miles, making it California's seventh largest fire in US history. The raging blaze is expected to move farther into the park.

In 1984, UNESCO designated Yosemite National Park, USA as the World Heritage. In its justification for inclusion in the World Heritage list, UNESCO states:

Yosemite has exceptional natural beauty, including 5 of the world's highest waterfalls, a combination of granite domes and walls, deeply incised valleys, three groves of giant sequoia, numerous alpine meadows, lakes, diversity of life zones and variety of species.

Glacial action combined with the granitic bedrock has produced unique and pronounced landform features including distinctive polished dome structures, as well as hanging valleys, tarns, moraines and U-shaped valleys. Granitic landforms such as Half Dome and the vertical walls of El Capitan are classic distinctive reflections of geologic history. No other area portrays the effects of glaciations on underlying granitic domes as well as Yosemite does.

Yosemite National Park lies in the heart of California in area of outstanding wilderness and great scenic beauty. With its hanging valleys, many waterfalls, cirque lakes, polished domes, moraines and U-shaped valleys, it provides an excellent overview of all kinds of granite relief fashioned by glaciations.

At 600-4000 m, a great variety of flora and fauna can also be found here. The National Park, on the west slope of the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, represents practically all the different environments found within the Sierra Nevada, including sequoia groves, historic resources, evidence of Indian habitation, and domes, valleys, polished granites and other geological features that illustrate the formation of the mountain range.

The variety of flora in the park is reflected in the existence of six distinct vegetation zones which are governed by altitude. There are 1200 species of flowering plant along with various other ferns, bryophytes and lichens.

Let us hope that 4000 firefighters already deployed in the area will be able to contain the wildfire and save the outstanding features of Yosemite National Park.

: Pradeep Kumar Mallik : email : mallikphila@gmail.com