National Wildlife Refuge System; 2025-2026 Station-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Fish and Wildlife Service</SUBAGY> <CFR>50 CFR Parts 32 and 71</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. FWS-HQ-NWRS-2025-0031; FXRS12610900000-256-FF09R20000]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1018-BI01</RIN> <SUBJECT>National Wildlife Refuge System; 2025-2026 Station-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to open or expand hunting or sport fishing opportunities on 16 National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) stations and 1 National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) station. This includes inaugural hunting opportunities at Southern Maryland Woodlands National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), the newest addition to the NWRS, and the formal opening of hunting opportunities at Grasslands Wildlife Management Area (WMA), as well as inaugural sport fishing at North Attleboro National Fish Hatchery (NFH). These actions will open or expand 42 opportunities for hunting and fishing across more than 87,000 acres of Service lands and waters. In addition, at the request of the State of Minnesota and the White Earth Nation, Tamarac NWR proposes to end an experimental 5-day early teal hunt where the refuge overlaps with Tribal land to ensure safety for wild rice harvesting and to align with State regulations. We also propose to make administrative changes to existing station-specific regulations to improve the clarity and accuracy of regulations, reduce the regulatory burden on the public, and comply with a Presidential mandate for plain-language standards. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> We will accept comments received or postmarked on or before June 30, 2025. <E T="03">Information collection requirements:</E> If you wish to comment on the information collection requirements in this proposal, alongside proposed revisions and additions to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), please note that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is required to make a decision concerning the collection of information contained in this proposal between 30 and 60 days after the date of publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . Therefore, comments should be submitted to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, (see “ <E T="03">Information collection requirements</E> ” below under <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> ) by July 15, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> <E T="03">Written comments:</E> You may submit comments by one of the following methods: • <E T="03">Electronically:</E> Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> In the Search box, type in FWS-HQ-NWRS-2025-0031, which is the docket number for these proposed revisions and additions to the CFR. Then, click on the Search button. On the resulting screen, find the correct document and submit a comment by clicking on “Comment.” • <E T="03">By hard copy:</E> Submit by U.S. mail or hand delivery: Public Comments Processing, Attn: FWS-HQ-NWRS-2025-0031, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), Falls Church, VA 22041-3803. We will not accept email or faxes. We will post all comments on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> This generally means that we will post any personal information you provide us (see Request for Comments, below, for more information). <E T="03">Supporting documents:</E> For information on a specific refuge's or hatchery's public use program and the conditions that apply to it, contact the respective regional office at the address or phone number given in Available Information for Specific Stations under <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> . <E T="03">Information collection requirements:</E> Send your comments on the information collection request by mail to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, by email to <E T="03">Info_Coll@fws.gov;</E> or by mail to 5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), Falls Church, VA 22041-3803. Please reference OMB Control Number 1018-0140 in the subject line of your comments. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Christian Myers, (571) 422-3595. Please see Docket No. FWS-HQ-NWRS-2025-0031 on <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> for a document that summarizes these proposed revisions and additions to the CFR. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Background</HD> The National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966 (16 U.S.C. 668dd-668ee), as amended (Administration Act), closes NWRs in all States except Alaska to all uses until opened. The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) may open refuge areas to any use, including hunting and/or sport fishing, upon a determination that the use is compatible with the purposes of the refuge and National Wildlife Refuge System (Refuge System) mission. The action also must be in accordance with provisions of all laws applicable to the areas, developed in coordination with the appropriate State fish and wildlife agency(ies), consistent with the principles of sound fish and wildlife management and administration, and otherwise in the public interest. These requirements ensure that we maintain the biological integrity, diversity, and environmental health of the Refuge System for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans. We annually review hunting and sport fishing programs to determine whether to include additional stations or whether individual station regulations governing existing programs need modifications. Changing environmental conditions, State and Federal regulations, and other factors affecting fish and wildlife populations and habitat may warrant modifications to station-specific regulations to ensure the continued compatibility of hunting and sport fishing programs and to ensure that these programs will not materially interfere with or detract from the fulfillment of station purposes or the Refuge System's mission. Provisions governing hunting and sport fishing on refuges are in title 50 of the CFR at part 32 (50 CFR part 32), and on hatcheries at part 71 (50 CFR part 71). We regulate hunting and sport fishing to: • Ensure compatibility with refuge and hatchery purpose(s); • Properly manage fish and wildlife resource(s); • Protect other values; • Ensure visitor safety; and • Provide opportunities for fish- and wildlife-dependent recreation. On many stations where we decide to allow hunting and sport fishing, our general policy of adopting regulations identical to State hunting and sport fishing regulations is adequate to meet these objectives. On other stations, we must supplement State regulations with more-restrictive Federal regulations to ensure that we meet our management responsibilities, as outlined under Statutory Authority, below. We issue station-specific hunting and sport fishing regulations when we open national wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, or sport fishing. These regulations may list the wildlife species that you may hunt or fish; seasons; bag or creel (container for carrying fish) limits; methods of hunting or sport fishing; descriptions of areas open to hunting or sport fishing; and other provisions as appropriate. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Statutory Authority</HD> The Administration Act, as amended by the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (Improvement Act; Pub. L. 105-57), governs the administration and public use of refuges, and the Refuge Recreation Act of 1962 (Recreation Act; 16 U.S.C. 460k-460k-4) governs the administration and public use of refuges and hatcheries. Amendments enacted by the Improvement Act were built upon the Administration Act in a manner that provides an “organic act” for the Refuge System, similar to organic acts that exist for other public Federal lands. The Improvement Act serves to ensure that we effectively manage the Refuge System as a national network of lands, waters, and interests for the protection and conservation of our Nation's wildlife resources. The Administration Act states first and foremost that we focus our Refuge System mission on conservation of fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats. The Improvement Act requires the Secretary, before allowing a new use of a refuge, or before expanding, renewing, or extending an existing use of a refuge, to determine that the use is compatible with the purpose for which the refuge was established and the mission of the Refuge System. The Improvement Act established as the policy of the United States that wildlife-dependent recreation, when compatible, is a legitimate and appropriate public use of the Refuge System, through which the American public can develop an appreciation for fish and wildlife. The Improvement Act established six wildlife-dependent recreational uses as the priority general public uses of the Refuge System. These uses are hunting, fishing, wildlife observation and photography, and environmental education and interpretation. The Recreation Act authorizes the Secretary to administer areas within the Refuge System and Hatchery System for public recreation as an appropriate incidental or secondary use only to the extent that doing so is practicable and not inconsistent with the primary purpose(s) for which Congress and the Service established the areas. The Recreation Act requires that any recreational use of refuge or hatchery lands be compatible with the primary purpose(s) for which we established the refuge and not inconsistent with other previously authorized operations. The Administration Act and Recreation Act also authorize ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 125k characters. 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