Department of the Interior April 9, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) Migratory Bird Regulations Committee (SRC) will conduct an open meeting on April 28, 2020, to identify and discuss preliminary issues concerning the 2021-2022 migratory bird hunting regulations. We will conduct another meeting in October 2020 to review information on the status of migratory game birds and develop 2021-2022 migratory game bird regulations recommendations for these species. In accordance with Departmental policy, these meetings are open to public observation.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to open, for the first time, eight National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) that are currently closed to hunting and sport fishing. In addition, we propose to open or expand hunting and sport fishing at 89 other NWRs, and add pertinent station-specific regulations for other NWRs that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing for the 2020-2021 season. We also propose to open hunting or sport fishing on nine units of the National Fish Hatchery System (NFHs). We also propose to add pertinent station- specific regulations that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing at these nine NFHs for the 2020-2021 season. Further, we propose to open 41 limited- interest easement NWRs in North Dakota for upland game and big game hunting, and sport fishing in accordance with State regulations. Access to these NWRs is controlled by the current landowners, and, therefore, they are not fully open to the public unless authorized by the landowner. We also propose to make regulatory changes to existing station-specific regulations in order to reduce the regulatory burden on the public, increase access for hunters and anglers on Service lands and waters, and comply with a Presidential mandate for plain language standards. Lastly, we propose to prohibit domestic sheep, goat, and camelid pack animals on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.