The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge today released a Draft Furbearer Management Plan and Environmental Assessment, and the required draft compatibility determination, for public review and comment. These documents are available at each of the Refuge's District Offices and are on the Refuge website at: http://midwest.fws.gov/UpperMississippiRiver.
Refuge staff are asking the public to review the documents and to provide any comments they may have no later than July 2, 2007.
This draft plan updates the 1988 Furbearer Management Plan, and, as noted by Refuge Biologist Eric Nelson, "The plan will help guide the management of furbearers on the Refuge for the next 10 years and help ensure a viable and sustainable program.? Nelson added that the changes to the trapping program would not begin until the 2008-2009 trapping season.
Significant changes to existing rules are proposed in three areas. First, an otter trapping season would be allowed in states with a season, but the Refuge would allow only one otter per trapper. This would be a consistent, refuge-wide, regulation. Refuge staff proposed this conservative limit due to incomplete refuge-specific otter population data. In addition, a conservative limit, rather than a two or four, should help maintain otter viewing opportunities for refuge visitors. Providing wildlife observation opportunities is a high priority for the refuge.
Second, the Refuge proposes to increase the Trapping Special Use Permit fee from $20 to $30 in the 2008-2009 season; permit fees for youth under the age of 18 would remain at $20. These fees would be kept by the Refuge to help cover increased administrative costs and support research and management. Currently these fees become part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's general fund.
A third significant change is to allow managers the flexibility to establish Special Furbearer Management Areas that may be used to enhance fish and wildlife habitat and populations, to protect Refuge infrastructure from damage (e.g. muskrat tunneling of impoundment levees), and to provide Youth Trapping Areas.
The draft plan also outlines minor changes to stipulations for trap placement, population monitoring and law enforcement procedures.
Interested persons or groups may submit comments to this plan via e-mail to uppermississippiriver@fws.gov, please include "Attn: Furbearer Plan? and your full name and return address in your message; or via mail to Upper Miss Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 51 E. 4th St., Room 101, Attn: Furbearer Plan, Winona, MN 55987; or via fax to (507) 452-0851.
Comments must be received by July 2, 2007 to be considered in developing the final plan. If there are questions, or to receive a hard copy of the plan, call the Refuge at (507) 452-4232.
The management of furbearer populations on the Refuge dates back to 1929 when the first permits for trapping were issued. Trapping on the Mississippi River dates back centuries, and was a major impetus for exploration and eventual settlement of the entire Upper Midwest. Today, trapping is a valuable management tool used to maintain healthy populations and healthy floodplain habitat. Trapping is also an activity that provides thousands of hours of outdoor recreation and economic return for hundreds of sportsmen and women each year. Over the past 11 years, an average of 281 active refuge trappers earned $538.00 per year in the harvest of muskrat, raccoon, beaver, and mink. This average does not include numbers for the 2006-07 season when 517 trapping permits were issued. Final tallies are not yet available.
The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge is the most visited refuge in the United States. The refuge extends 261 miles along the Upper Mississippi River from Wabasha, Minnesota to Rock Island, Illinois, protecting and preserving habitat for migratory birds, fish, and a variety of other wildlife. This 240,000-acre refuge was established in 1924.
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 96-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 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.
