As mentioned last week, SCI submitted comments on the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge Hunting and Fishing Plan and Supplemental Environmental Assessment. In the official comments, SCI recommended that the FWS adopt Alternative B in the Supplemental Environmental Assessment and also noted the failure by the FWS to appropriately follow the legally required process of public notice and comment for proposed revisions to the Hunt/Fish Plan. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, the FWS disregarded the voices of sportsmen and women by choosing Alternative A late on the afternoon of Friday, June 2 only days after the comment period was closed. This decision and timing removed any doubt that the FWS didn’t have a predetermined outcome with this unscrupulous revision. The decision permanently puts in places restrictions, never disclosed to the public when initially proposed, that limits dog training, hunting with dogs, and requires additional permits (which can be denied) for hunting/training with dogs in certain instances.
Around the States: Vermont
