Project Leader Donald Voros has announced the availability of the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge Hunting Plan and Environmental Assessment for public review and comment.  A copy of the document can be obtained at the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuge Complex Headquarters Office, located at 1428 Highway 27, nine miles north of Creole, Louisiana or on our web site at www.fws.gov/swlarefugecomplex.  Click the Hunt Regulations button and it will bring up links for the Sabine NWR 2010 Draft Sport Hunting Plan and the Sabine NWR 2010 Draft Sport Hunting Plan Environmental Assessment.  Public comments concerning the document will be accepted from April 19, 2010 through May 19, 2010 and should be mailed to:

Hunt Program Review
Sabine NWR
1428 Highway 27
Bell City LA 70630-9618

Sabine NWR has been open to migratory bird hunting for years through appropriate Service Policy. The refuge hunting plan is being updated to be consistent with Sabine National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment which were completed during 2007. This action also brings the former Sabine NWR Hunt Plan into conformance with recent policy changes and step-down management plan formatting.

The purpose of the Environmental Assessment is to evaluate the feasibility of expanding hunting opportunities on land currently open to hunting on the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. The new hunt would include expanding the current migratory waterfowl hunt to include the take of two species of gallinules, the Common Moorhen and the Purple Gallinule, during their open season.  Hunting regulations would be the same as those currently imposed on hunters currently using the refuge.

For additional information about this plan or the Southwest Louisiana National Wildlife Refuges please call 337-598-2216.

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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System that encompasses more than 540 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands, and other special management areas. It also operates 70 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.