CU 07-27                                           

Amended Hunting and Fishing Regulations Proposed for Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge – Congressional Notification

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is expecting a proposed rule in the Federal Register to implement hunting- and fishing-related actions in the approved Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge to be published on Thursday, June 28.

The public has 30 days to comment on the new regulations.  The new rules are scheduled to take effect for the 2007-2008 hunting season. 

Refuge Manager Don Hultman said the biggest change in the new rules is a modification of the system of Waterfowl Hunting Closed Areas that has been in effect since 1958 on the 240,000-acre, 261-mile-long refuge on the Mississippi River floodplain in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois. 

Hultman said the closed areas will provide strategic resting and feeding areas for waterfowl during their migration along the Mississippi Flyway, and also enhance hunting opportunities by ensuring that ducks and geese remain on the refuge longer. 

“The closed areas are like stepping stones for the birds as they make their way south,” said Hultman.  “The new system takes into account decades of survey work that has shown an unequal distribution of waterfowl in the 12 river pools.  Having all the ducks in a few pools is not ideal for the birds, nor ideal for waterfowl hunters.”

The new closed areas also include a provision asking the public to voluntarily avoid the areas from October 15 through the end of the duck season to help minimize disturbance to waterfowl.  Small closed areas, those less than 1,000 acres, will also have a restriction on motor use during the same period.

When all changes in the CCP are implemented in 2009, Hultman said the refuge will have 24 closed areas totaling 43,683 acres, compared with the current 15 areas totaling 44,544 acres.  Another 1,406 acres of the Wisconsin River Delta in Pool 10 will be open the first 30 days of the waterfowl hunting season, closing November 1. 

Proposed changes to the closed areas in Pool 4 outlined in the CCP will not take effect until the 2009-10 season pending completion of additional monitoring.

In addition, 4,000 acres of river Pool 11 in Grant County, WI, will remain open to waterfowl hunting, but hunters will no longer be allowed to hunt from boats or skiffs in open water.  The change will lessen disturbance to large concentrations, or rafts, of scaup and canvasback ducks that stage in the area.

“This portion of Pool 11 in recent years had a peak population of nearly 50,000 scaup and 17 percent of the scaup use-days for the entire refuge, and 15,000 canvasback ducks,” Hultman said.

The proposed rule also phases out the use of permanent waterfowl hunting blinds or structures in the parts of the refuge where they are still allowed.  Permanent blinds will no longer be allowed in Pool 12 beginning with the 2007-2008 waterfowl hunting season; Pool 14 after the 2007-2008 season; and Pool 13 after the 2008-2009 season.

Hultman said the proposed rule also fine-tunes language in current refuge regulations for clarity and ease of enforcement, and includes other modest changes to modernize regulations and make them consistent with sound fish and wildlife management.

Changes include a requirement for nontoxic shot for turkey hunting, and clarifying existing rules for temporary blinds, use of dogs, hunting equipment, camping, campfires, and vehicle use.

Refuge fishing regulations remain virtually unchanged except to reference restrictions or voluntary avoidance in closed areas during the waterfowl season.

The entire proposed rule, along with fact sheets and links to maps and the CCP, is available at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/UpperMississippiRiver/, or you may call (507) 452-4232 and request a copy.

Comments on the proposed rule must be received by 30 days from the Federal Register Notice and can be made via e-mail t uppermississippiriver@fws.gov.  Please include “Attn:  Hunting/Fishing Regs” and your full name and mailing address in your e-mail message. 

Comments may also be sent by mail t  Refuge Manager, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge, 51 East Fourth Street, Room 101, Winona, MN,  55987.

The refuge CCP was approved in October 2006 following four years of effort, including 46 public meetings or workshops attended by 4,500 people.  Another proposed rule on general recreation CCP actions, such as electric motor only areas, will be prepared in the coming months.  These new rules will also be released for public comment and implemented sometime in 2008.

In addition to being the most visited refuge in the country, the “Upper Miss” Refuge 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.