The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is inviting public comment and participation as part of the scoping process in drafting a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement on the hunting of migratory birds. Comments can be sent directly to the USFWS or provided at a scoping meeting to be held at 7 p.m. on April 6 at the Colorado Division of Wildlife Denver Headquarters in the Hunter Education Building at 6060 Broadway. Representatives from the USFWS will present background information on setting hunting regulations for migratory birds at the scoping meeting.

The USFWS has invited Federal and State Agencies and the public to present their views on the scope and substance of the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, options or alternatives to be considered and important management issues. The Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement will update the original Environmental Impact Statement which was developed in 1975 and the last supplemental Environmental Impact Statement which was written in 1988. These statements help the USFWS develop annual hunting regulations for migratory birds. In Colorado, migratory game birds include ducks, geese, doves, band-tailed pigeons, sandhill cranes, rails, snipe, coots and crows.

The draft of the current Supplemental Environmental Impact Study, which will contain management alternatives, will be published for comment next year.

Written comments regarding the impact study are due by May 30, 2006. They can be sent to Chief Division of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, MS MBSP-4107-ARLSQ, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington DC 20240. Comments may also be sent by fax to (703) 358-2217 or by e-mail to huntingseis@fws.gov. All comments received form Sept. 8, 2005 until May 30, 2006 will be considered.

For more information, please see:
http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/fedreg/MGBHR.HTML.

For more information about Division of Wildlife go to:
http://wildlife.state.co.us.