Contacts
Georgia Parham 812-334-4261 x 203
Wisconsin residents are invited to attend a public hearing
hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take comments on the agency’s
proposal to remove the eastern population of the gray wolf from the list
of endangered and threatened species. The hearing is scheduled for Monday,
September 27, 2004, in Madison.
The hearing begins at 6:30 at the University of Wisconsin Union
South, 227 North Randall. This is the first of three pubic hearings in Wisconsin – the
others are September 28 in Wausau and September 29 in Ashland -- and one
of nine hearings throughout the Great Lakes range of the gray wolf.
The agenda for the hearing includes an informal open house,
with a presentation on the proposal and a question-and-answer session, beginning
at 6:30 p.m. The official public hearing will run from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
People attending the open house will have the opportunity to talk with Service
biologists about the gray wolf delisting proposal, ask questions during the
question-and-answer session, and provide oral comments on the proposal during
the hearing. Written comments will also be accepted.
These public hearings follow a national announcement made on
July 16 proposing the delisting of gray wolves in the Eastern Distinct Population
Segment. The Eastern DPS extends from the Dakotas, Nebraska and Kansas to
the East Coast. The southern boundary includes Missouri, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and its northern boundary is the Canadian
border.
When it proposed delisting gray wolves in the eastern United
States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noted that wolves in the Eastern
DPS have climbed beyond population criteria set out in the species’ recovery
plan. Further, the eastern states with gray wolf populations – Minnesota,
Michigan and Wisconsin – have management plans in place to ensure the
species’ long-term survival.
For more information on the gray wolf Eastern DPS delisting
proposal, see the Service’s gray wolf web site at http://midwest.fws.gov/wolf
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 544 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national
fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation
efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes
hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment
to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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