CU 07 - 39                                                     

New Hunting and Fishing Regulations Take Effect on Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge – Congressional Notification

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today published a final 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.

The new regulations are effective immediately, although most provisions will not have an actual effect on the 240,000-acre, 261-mile-long refuge on the Mississippi River floodplain in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois until the start of the 2007-08 hunting season. 

Leaflets and pool-by-pool maps explaining the new regulations are available at any refuge office, or you may call (507) 452-4232 and request a copy.  The leaflets and maps, along with the entire rule, the full CCP and other information is also available online at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/UpperMississippiRiver/

Refuge Manager Don Hultman said a major change in the new rules is a modification of the system of Waterfowl Hunting Closed Areas that has been in effect since 1958.  Refuge staff are installing new signs throughout the refuge to clearly mark these closed areas.

Hultman said the closed areas provide strategic rest and feeding areas for waterfowl during their migration along the Mississippi Flyway, and also enhance hunting opportunities by encouraging 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.  “This new system takes into account decades of waterfowl and habitat surveys that have shown an unequal distribution of waterfowl in the refuge’s 12 river pools.”

The new closed areas also include a provision asking the public to voluntarily avoid the areas from October 15 to the end of the duck season to 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.

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.

The new rules also phase 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 to use 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 or sanctuaries during the waterfowl season.

The refuge CCP was approved in October 2006, following four years of effort, including 46 public meetings and workshops attended by 4,500 persons.  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.