Advertisement
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is not pursuing a formal waterfowl hunting plan for the Gibbs Lake Area located in Pool 7 of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge in Wisconsin.
Refuge manager Don Hultman said the Gibbs Lake Area was discussed at a recent meeting with managers and he decided not to go forward with further planning. Hultman said hunter sentiment played a key role in his decision.
“Gibbs Lake is a localized issue on the refuge and many people who hunt the area believed there was no longer a problem serious enough to warrant new regulations,” Hultman said.
Hunters were virtually unanimous in opposition to components of a preliminary draft plan announced at a Gibbs Lake workshop in February 2007. The plan would have limited the number of shot shells used by hunters to address shooting at birds out of range, limited the number of hunters on the boundary with the Lake Onalaska closed area, and involved other provisions aimed at improving the quality of hunting.
The Gibbs Lake Area was targeted for change due to refuge concerns with waterfowl hunter crowding and crippling loss of ducks in this popular hunting spot just northwest of the Lake Onalaska Waterfowl Hunting Closed Area in Pool 7. Developing a plan was identified as an action item in the refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan approved in 2006.
One aspect of the preliminary plan supported by hunters was the implementation of a new regulation requiring the immediate retrieval of downed birds. Hultman said the entire refuge would benefit from such a rule change and he will consider this for the 2009 season independent of Gibbs Lake.
Hultman said the agency will continue to monitor the Gibbs Lake Area and will likely focus more enforcement there this fall and in future seasons.
“If future monitoring shows we have a growing problem with crowding and bird loss due to crippling, we will resurrect the planning process, involve the public and take action as needed,” Hultman said.
