COMMENT PERIOD FOR SHOREBIRD HABITAT EXTENDED AGAIN

COMMENT PERIOD FOR SHOREBIRD HABITAT EXTENDED AGAIN
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has extended the public comment period for a second time on its draft proposal to designate critical habitat for an imperiled shorebird, the piping plover. The November 24 extension allows for one additional formal hearing to be held at South Padre Island. The public is invited to an information session on Tuesday, November 14, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Radisson Resort Hotel, 500 Padre Blvd. The formal public hearing begins at 7 p.m. All oral comments will be recorded and considered in developing the final rule. The target date for publishing the critical habitat designation rule in the Federal Register is April 30, 2001. South Padre is at one end of the 1,672 miles of coastline stretching to North Carolina that is proposed as critical habitat for wintering populations of piping plovers.

Copies of the proposed critical habitat designation and its draft economic analysis are available on the Internet at http://plover.fws.gov"> or by contacting the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Field Supervisor at Ecological Services Field Office, c/o TAMU-CC, Campus Box 338, 6300 Ocean Drive, Corpus Christi, Texas, 78412. Comments may also be sent by facsimile to (361) 994-8262 or electronically to winterplovercomments@fws.gov">.

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 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 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.

LinksFish and Wildlife Service/Southwest Region Fish and Wildlife Service/Plover Site