[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 131 (Friday, July 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39577-39579]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-16711]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

[FWS-R9-MB-2010-N073; 91200-1231-9BPP-L2]


Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the Issuance 
of Annual Regulations Permitting the Hunting of Migratory Birds

AGENCY: Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) has 
prepared a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS) for 
the issuance of annual regulations permitting the hunting of migratory 
birds. The SEIS analyzes a range of management alternatives for 
addressing the hunting of migratory birds. The analysis provided in the 
draft SEIS is intended to: inform the public of the proposed action and 
alternatives; address public comments we received during the scoping 
period; and disclose the direct, indirect, and cumulative environmental 
effects of the proposed action and each of the alternatives. We invite 
the public to comment on the draft SEIS.

DATES: In order to ensure that we are able to consider your comments, 
we must receive them on or before March 26, 2011.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on the draft SEIS by one of the 
following methods:

[[Page 39578]]

     U.S. mail or hand-delivery: Pacific Flyway Representative, 
Division of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 
911 NE. 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97232.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 503-231-6162.
    You may inspect comments during normal business hours at the office 
of the Pacific Flyway Representative, 911 NE. 11th Ave., Portland, OR 
97232. The draft SEIS is available by either writing to the street 
address indicated above or by viewing on our Web site at http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Trost, Pacific Flyway 
Representative, Division of Migratory Bird Management, (503) 231-6162; 
or Robert Blohm, Chief, Division of Migratory Bird Management, (703) 
358-1714.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 8, 2005, and again on March 9, 
2006, the Service published notice in the Federal Register (70 FR 53376 
and 71 FR 12216, respectively) announcing that we intended to prepare a 
supplemental environmental impact statement for the issuance of annual 
regulations permitting the hunting of migratory birds. In those 
notices, we invited public comments on the scope and substance of the 
SEIS, particular issues the SEIS should address and why, and options or 
alternatives we should consider. Please refer to the notices (70 FR 
53376 and 71 FR 12216) for further information about our regulatory 
process pertaining to the hunting of migratory birds.
    We received public comments on the notices, considered those 
comments, and developed a draft SEIS that we are making available 
through this notice. We are publishing this notice in accordance with 
the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 
U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), its implementing regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500 
to 1508), and Service procedures for compliance with those regulations.
    The draft SEIS evaluates seven components of the proposed action 
regarding how we establish the annual regulations for the hunting of 
migratory birds. The first six components deal with the fall-winter 
hunting season and include:
    (1) Schedule and timing of the general regulatory process. 
Promulgation of annual hunting regulations relies on a well-defined 
process of monitoring, data collection, and scientific assessment. At 
key points during that process, Flyway Technical Committees, Flyway 
Councils, and the public review and provide valuable input on technical 
assessments or other documents related to proposed regulatory 
frameworks. After we adopt final regulatory frameworks, each State 
selects its seasons, usually following its own schedule of public 
hearings and other deliberations. After State selections are completed, 
the Service adopts them as Federal regulations through publication in 
the Federal Register. In the draft SEIS, we present four alternatives 
regarding the schedule and timing of the general regulatory process.
    (2) Frequency of review and adoption of duck regulatory packages. 
Duck regulatory packages are the set of framework regulations that 
apply to the general duck hunting seasons. Packages include opening and 
closing dates, season lengths, daily bag limits, and shooting hours. 
Current regulatory packages contain a set of frameworks for each of the 
four flyways and a set of four regulatory alternatives: restrictive 
(relatively short seasons and low daily bag limits), moderate 
(intermediate season lengths and daily bag limits), liberal (longer 
seasons and higher daily bag limits), and closed. In the draft SEIS, we 
present two alternatives regarding how frequently duck regulatory 
packages should be reviewed and adopted.
    (3) Stock-specific harvest strategies. Harvest strategies have been 
developed for stocks deemed not biologically capable of sustaining the 
same harvest levels that jointly managed stocks are capable of 
sustaining, or whose migration and distribution do not conform to 
patterns followed by the most commonly harvested species. The draft 
SEIS presents three alternatives regarding the use of stock-specific 
harvest strategies.
    (4) Special regulations. Special regulations differ from stock 
harvest strategies because they entail additional days of harvest 
opportunity outside the established frameworks for general seasons. 
Special regulations are employed to provide additional harvest 
opportunity on overabundant species, species that are lightly harvested 
and can sustain greater harvest pressure, or stocks whose migration and 
distribution provide opportunities outside the time period in which 
regular seasons are held. In the draft SEIS, we offer two alternatives 
concerning the development of special regulations.
    (5) Management scale for the harvest of migratory birds. We define 
management scale as the geographic area in which stocks are monitored 
and harvest is managed. The finer the scale of management employed in 
harvest management, the higher the cost of monitoring to management 
agencies. The desire for smaller management scales is driven by the 
potential for increased harvest opportunity associated with more 
refined geographic management. The draft SEIS presents three 
alternatives regarding the scale at which migratory birds should be 
managed.
    (6) Zones and split seasons. A zone is a geographic area or portion 
of a State, with a contiguous boundary, for which an independent season 
may be selected. A split is a situation where a season is broken into 
two or more segments with a closed period between segments. The 
combination of zones and split seasons allows a State to maximize 
harvest opportunity within the Federal frameworks without exceeding the 
number of days allowed for a given season. In the draft SEIS, we 
present two alternatives regarding the use of zones and split seasons.
    In addition, the draft SEIS considers a seventh component of the 
proposed action concerning the subsistence hunting regulations process 
for Alaska. Regulations governing the subsistence harvest of migratory 
birds provide a framework that enables the continuation of customary 
and traditional subsistence uses of migratory birds in Alaska. These 
regulations are subject to annual review and are developed under a co-
management process involving the Service, the Alaska Department of Fish 
and Game, and Alaska Native representatives. This annual review process 
establishes regulations that prescribe frameworks for dates when 
harvesting of birds may occur, species that can be taken, and methods 
and means that are excluded from use. In the draft SEIS, we offer two 
alternatives regarding the subsistence harvest of migratory birds in 
Alaska.
    In the draft SEIS, we also discuss the impact of cumulative harvest 
of migratory bird hunting on national wildlife refuges.
    Finally, the draft SEIS provides and analyzes alternatives for each 
of these seven components with regard to their potential impacts on 
migratory bird species, other wildlife species, special status species, 
vegetation, outdoor recreational activities, physical and cultural 
resources, and the socioeconomic/administrative environment.

Public Comments

    We invite interested persons to submit written comments, 
suggestions, or recommendations regarding the draft SEIS. Before 
preparation of any final SEIS, we will take into consideration all 
comments we receive. Those comments, and any additional information we

[[Page 39579]]

receive, may lead to a final SEIS that differs from the draft SEIS.
    You may submit your comments and materials concerning the draft 
SEIS by one of the methods listed in the ADDRESSES section.
    Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or 
other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be 
aware that your entire comment--including your personal identifying 
information--may be made publicly available at any time. While you can 
ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying 
information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be 
able to do so.
    Comments and materials we receive, as well as supporting 
documentation we used in preparing the draft SEIS, will be available 
for public inspection, by appointment, during normal business hours, at 
the office of the Pacific Flyway Representative, 911 NE. 11th Ave., 
Portland, OR 97232.

    Dated: May 6, 2010.
Rowan W. Gould,
Acting Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
[FR Doc. 2010-16711 Filed 7-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-55-P