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5/7/2007

Contacts

Don Hultman, 507-494-6218

Chuck Traxler, 612-713-5313

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan Moving Forward

Some Actions Will Be Delayed

Several actions outlined in the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge are moving forward, while other key provisions will be delayed one year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The CCP for the 240,000-acre refuge -- which includes areas in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin -- was approved in November 2006, following a four-year development process including significant public involvement. The plan will guide management and administration of the refuge for the next 15 years.

Refuge Manager Don Hultman said the rule making package for changes to hunting on the refuge is in Washington and the proposed rules are expected to be published in the Federal Register this summer, perhaps as early as June. There will be a 30-day public comment period once the rules are published.

“ In addition to the required Federal Register notice, we’ll also notify the media and post the proposed rules on our website to help ensure the public is aware of the rule and can provide comments if they would like,” Hultman said.

The rule, which amends the current hunting and fishing regulations for the refuge, reflects changes approved by the CCP, fine-tunes language in the current refuge-specific regulations for clarity and ease of enforcement, and will include other modest changes to modernize the regulations and make them consistent with sound fish and wildlife management practices.

Hultman said the refuge regulations process is independent of the rulemaking of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, although he has been coordinating with the DNR and will continue to do so.

Votes at recent spring hearings across Wisconsin showed a large majority of the people in attendance did not want the state to adopt closed area rules that matched those of the refuge.

“ We hope in the end that Wisconsin regulations match ours so their officers can enforce the closed area changes and help us improve waterfowl populations on the refuge. But as we have said all along, we are prepared to move forward on actions approved in the CCP regardless of the outcome of the state’s rulemaking process,” Hultman said. “The other three states the refuge includes can automatically enforce refuge regulations.”

Waterfowl Hunting Closed Areas Changing

Hultman said the biggest change for the 2007-08 hunting season will be changes to the system of waterfowl hunting closed areas that provide resting and feeding areas for waterfowl in navigation Pools 5 through 14. As called for in the CCP, changes to the closed areas in Pool 4 have been delayed until 2009 as monitoring of waterfowl use in these areas continues.

For fall 2007, the proposed rule calls for eight new closed areas scattered throughout the 261-mile-long refuge. Three existing closed areas would have modest expansions, three would be reduced in size and eight large closed areas would remain unchanged.

According to the CCP, when all changes are implemented in 2009, there will be 23 closed areas or sanctuaries, totaling 43,652 acres, compared with the current 15 areas totaling 44,544 acres. Another 1,406 acres will be closed only after November 1 in the Wisconsin River Delta area of Pool 10.

Also planned for this season is a change to open water hunting regulations on 4,000 acres of Pool 11 in Grant County, Wis., and the prohibition of permanent hunting blinds on the refuge in Pool 12. The Grant County area remains open to hunting, but restricts open water hunting from boats to protect large rafts of scaup and canvasback ducks.
Even with the above changes, Hultman said more than 187,000 acres of the refuge remains open to all hunting, and this acreage will continue to increase as new lands are acquired.

New Signs Will Soon Appear

Hultman said beginning this month, refuge staff will be changing the signs on those boundaries of closed areas and no hunting zones that are remaining the same.
The new signs look similar to those used for decades, although all signs related to hunting will now have an orange bar on the top of the sign face so hunters can more easily distinguish them from other boundary signs used on the refuge now or in the future.

Hultman said posting over a dozen closed areas totaling about 40,000 acres is a time consuming task, and it is important to get started well-ahead of the fall hunting seasons. Signing of other boundary changes will await the outcome of the rule making process.

Besides signs, the refuge will make available a new hunting brochure and pool-by-pool maps prior to the hunting season, although the timing of distribution is dependent on the final rules approval.

New Electric Motor Areas and Slow, No-Wake Areas Delayed

The establishment of four new electric motor only areas and eight new seasonal slow, no-wake areas will not take place until sometime in 2008 versus 2007 as earlier anticipated in the CCP.

In the electric motor areas, watercraft must be powered by electric motors or non-motorized means. In slow, no-wake areas, watercraft must travel at slow, no-wake speeds from March 16 through October 31. Also, operation of airboats or hovercraft in the slow, no-wake areas would not be allowed during these dates.
Hultman said establishing these areas is considered a new federal rule, and thus has a longer review and comment process compared to amendments to existing rules like those governing closed areas.

“ There is just no way could we get this new rule through the system in time for implementing in 2007,” Hultman said. He said the rule package for these areas, as well as other general recreation regulations governing glass containers and some other components of the CCP, will be submitted to Washington in the coming weeks.

These proposed rules will also be published in the Federal Register for public comment, with local media and public notification and posting on the refuge website.
“ I’d be surprised if these were even published before the end of the year given the more lengthy internal reviews in Washington,” he said.

Decision Made on Black River Bottoms Area

Hultman also said he has made a decision on the location and configuration of the proposed Black River Bottoms slow, no-wake area in Pool 7 upriver from La Crosse, Wis.
“ As outlined in the CCP, we held further meetings with individuals in the area and are making changes to the boundaries of the area to accommodate power watercraft travel needs,” Hultman said.

He said the northern third of the area is being deleted above and including Hammond Chute so there will be unrestricted access west from the Black River to the main river channel and other areas of the refuge. An approximately 85-acre area was added on the southwest side. The new slow, no-wake area will now total 815 acres versus the 1,165-acre area originally shown in the CCP.

Hultman said this change will be reflected in the rule making package covering all electric motor areas and slow, no-wake areas. A map of the proposed area is available on the refuge’s website.

Step-Down Plans Moving Ahead

Hultman said in the coming weeks he expects the release of draft plans for furbearer management, or trapping, on the refuge and for waterfowl hunting in the Gibbs Lake area in Pool 7, just north of the existing Lake Onalaska closed area.

“ We have received a lot of input already from the states and interest groups on the framework for these plans, and held two public workshops on the Gibbs Lake plan,” he said. The furbearer plan will be distributed for a 30-day public comment period and the Gibbs Lake plan for a 60-day period. Implementation of either final plan will not occur until fall 2008.

Hultman said work continues on a step-down law enforcement plan in coordination with the four states, along with several land acquisition packages, large Environmental Management Program habitat projects, and interpretive signing and wildlife observation overlooks, all of which were identified in the CCP.

For More Information

Hultman said the CCP and Final Environmental Impact Statement remain available at the refuge’s planning website: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/planning/uppermiss. The CCP contains detailed information on proposed changes, as well as tables and pool-by-pool maps. For maps and other details, persons should click on the “CCP November 2006” link.
Information on step-down plans such as Gibbs Lake, and the Black River Bottoms slow, no-wake area will be posted on the refuge’s regular website: http://www.fws.gov/midwest/UpperMississippiRiver

With an estimated 3.7 million annual visitors, the “Upper Miss” Refuge is the most visited in the U.S., exceeding levels at most national parks. It also has the added complexity of a major navigation system, including 11 locks and dams within its boundary. It is also a world-class fish and wildlife area which harbors 306 species of birds; 119 species of fish; more than 160 active bald eagle nests; thousands of heron and egret nests; spectacular concentrations of canvasback ducks, tundra swans, and white pelicans; and several threatened or endangered species. The refuge was established in 1924.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 96-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses 546 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.

-FWS-