We want to make sure that everyone who wants to provide input on this proposed refuge has the opportunity to do so, Holbrook said. We will be taking comments through August 20, 1998, and hope that those with ideas about the proposal will take advantage of the comment period to let us know what they think.
The proposal would establish a national wildlife refuge within the Kankakee River watershed in northwestern Indiana and northeastern Illinois. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting an environmental assessment to determine options for restoration of wildlife and habitat in the Kankakee watershed, which at one time supported a world-famous network of wetlands and grasslands and a wide diversity of wildlife. Options include a 30,000-acre refuge within the basin, scattered in tracts along the river corridor.
Copies of the draft environmental assessment are available for review in many public libraries throughout the watershed in Illinois and Indiana, or from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In addition, a summary of the document may be viewed on the Services worldwide web site at www.fws.gov/r3pao/ext_affr/news.htm . Comments may be submitted to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Planning and Ascertainment, 1 Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 55111 4056 or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 620 South Walker Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47403 2121. For more information, contact the Service at 815-263-4918.
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. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
