MEDIA ADVISORY

October 4, 2005

Contacts:    Mark Vrtiska, NGPC, 402-471-5437
                     Barb Perkins, FWS, 303-236-4588

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to Host Waterfowl Forum  

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Nebraska Game and Parks Commission are hosting a Waterfowl Forum to discuss how waterfowl regulations and seasons are set each year; and solicit community input to ensure better communications during the regulation-setting process. 

Topics for discussion will include waterfowl ecology and management; and the regulation setting process.  Attendees will have ample time to ask questions and provide comments. 

When:            Wednesday, October 12, 2005
                        7 pm – 9:30 pm

 Where:         Holiday Inn Hotel and Convention Center
                        110 2^nd Avenue (I-80 -- Kearney Exit 163)
                        Kearney, Nebraska

 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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses nearly 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 81 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.  

For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
visit our home page at www.fws.gov

 Visit the Mountain Prairie website at: http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov