The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that it has begun a new environmental assessment that will review the annual hunting of tundra swans in the Pacific Flyway, as well as the circumstances under which hunts are authorized.
The Service will release a draft environmental assessment (EA) evaluating a general tundra swan hunt in the Pacific Flyway, and its effect on populations of trumpeter swans, by April 20. The public will have 30 days to review and comment on the draft EA. The Services actions are part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed last year by the Fund for Animals and other groups after the Service allowed general swan hunting seasons to continue in Utah, Nevada and Montana.
"This settlement enables the Service to focus its limited resources on managing swans in the Pacific Flyway, rather than on litigation. We have worked for decades to protect and manage swan populations in the West, and will continue to build upon a track record that has contributed to record high swan populations in recent years," said acting Service Director Marshall Jones.
In 1995, the Service approved an experimental hunting season for tundra swans in the Rocky Mountain region, recognizing that a small number of trumpeter swans might be killed accidentally by hunters who mistook them for tundra swans. Despite the killing of approximately 38 trumpeter swans mistaken by hunters for tundra swans over a five-year period ending in 1999, the Rocky Mountain population of trumpeter swans grew by an average of six percent per year during that period, suggesting that the limited hunt did not have a significant impact on the population.
After reviewing the four-year experimental season and its effect on swan populations, in August of 2000 the Service authorized a regular tundra swan hunting season in Nevada and Montana and extended the experimental season for another three years in Utah, while imposing additional restrictions designed to minimize the chance that trumpeters might be taken by accident. Although the Service permitted a limited quota of up to 15 trumpeter swans to be taken in Utah and Nevada during the 2000-2001 season incidental to the tundra swan hunts, hunters never reached that limit. Preliminary harvest results suggest that only one trumpeter swan was taken during the seasons held in Utah and Nevada during the limited season.
A comprehensive survey of North American trumpeter swan populations recently completed by the Service and its partners reveals that each of the continents three populations reached record high levels in 2000. The survey results indicate continued steady increases in the trumpeter swan populations over the past three decades.
Collectively, a total of 23,647 trumpeter swans were counted in 2000, representing a 20 percent increase over 1995 levels, and a 535 percent increase since regular surveys began in 1968. Each of the three populations recorded strong population growth over the past five years. The Pacific Coast trumpeter swan population grew 8 percent, to 17,551 birds, while the Rocky Mountain population grew 46 percent to 3,666 swans, and the Interior Population increased more than 150 percent since 1995 and now numbers 2,430 swans.
The tri-state flock of the Rocky Mountain population declined from 589 birds in 1990 to 364 birds in 1995, due in large part to a single harsh winter and subsequent management actions taken to reduce their dependence on the area. However, the population rebounded over the past five years to number 426 birds in the 2000 survey, which biologists believe may be at or near the carrying capacity of the flocks wintering grounds in the greater Yellowstone area. The full text of the 2000 trumpeter swan population survey can be found on the Service Web site at http://migratorybirds.fws.gov">.
"The trumpeter swan is one of the great conservation success stories of the past century. From the brink of extirpation in most of the United States at the turn of the 19th century, these magnificent birds have rebounded under the protection of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to reach record population levels. We still have work to do to reestablish migration routes and ensure this recovery continues, but these survey results are a validation of decades of conservation efforts," said Jones.
The trumpeter swan is a large bird, with snowy white feathers; jet-black bill, feet, and legs; and an 8-foot wingspan. At close range, a thin orange-red line can be seen on the lower part of the bill. The trumpeter is often confused with the smaller, more numerous tundra swan, especially where their ranges overlap. While the trumpeter swan is larger than the tundra swan and has a distinctive call, individual variations in size and differences due to sex and age lead to some overlap among birds of the two species. The fact that differences in the two species physical characteristics are observable only at close range makes it difficult for untrained observers to differentiate between trumpeter swans and tundra swans under field conditions.
Once abundant and widespread throughout much of North America, trumpeter swan populations were virtually extirpated from the lower 48 states due to unregulated hunting pressure, habitat loss and the commercial plumage trade. Some flocks persisted in Alaska and northern Canada, as did a small flock in the remote habitats of the Rocky Mountains. In 1932, the Continental U.S. population of 70 was thought to be the only trumpeters in existence worldwide, but additional flocks were discovered in Alaska and Canada in the 1950s. Rocky Mountain trumpeters survived by wintering in the frigid wilderness in the Yellowstone Region, where warm springs kept small areas of water ice-free regardless of winter severity. Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge was established in Montanas Centennial Valley in 1935 to protect these trumpeter swans.
Large sanctuaries in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and at Harriman State Park protect the swans from human disturbance. In addition, from 1935-1992, the trumpeters were fed grain during winter at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. While sanctuaries helped preserve and improve the status of the Rocky Mountain Population, they discouraged southward migration essential to long-term recovery. Artificial feeding at Red Rock Lakes ceased in 1992.
The Service continues to support and participate in cooperative efforts to disperse the winter population of trumpeter swans and re-establish southern migration routes. Efforts to haze trumpeters away from Harriman State Park are ongoing, and the Service has also continued the suspension of supplemental feeding programs for both trumpeter and tundra swans on Service-managed lands and is actively working to create habitat in the current wintering area that is less attractive to wintering swans.
After releasing the draft EA and reviewing public comments on the draft, the Service will decide by June 15 whether and under what circumstances to allow swan hunting in the Pacific Flyway, or decide to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement for swan hunting in the flyway. The settlement will not alter the Services schedule for developing and issuing its annual late-season frameworks for migratory bird hunting regulations.
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.
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