The USFWS has finally issued their final EA on swan hunting for the Pacific
Flyway. It is just now being released, and will likely be put on the FWS
web site soon. So far all I have seen is this press release.
Perhaps this sounds good, but please remember, the RMP trumpeters at this
time will likely qualify for threatened species status based on their
biology and very low numbers.

Martha Jordan
marthaj at swansociety.org
www.swansociety.org



X-From_: fws-news-owner at web2.irm.r9.fws.gov Fri Jul 28 11:12:52 2000
Subject: Service to Continue to Allow Limited Take of Trumpeter Swans
During
>> Restructured Seasons
Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2000 10:12:59 -0400

SERVICE WILL CONTINUE TO ALLOW LIMITED TAKE OF TRUMPETER
SWANS DURING RESTRUCTURED SWAN HUNTING SEASONS

Striking a delicate balance between the need to protect the Rocky Mountain
population of trumpeter swans and to support continuing hunts of its
similar cousin, the tundra swan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today
announced that it will allow general swan hunting seasons to continue in
Utah, Nevada and Montana after imposing additional restrictions designed
to minimize the chance that trumpeters may be taken by accident.

The Service's decision, announced by the release of a final Environmental
Assessment today, was issued after completion of a review of an
experimental general swan season in the Pacific Flyway authorized during
the 1995-99 hunting seasons. Despite the killing of approximately 38
trumpeter swans mistaken by hunters for tundra swans over the five-year
period, the Rocky Mountain population of trumpeter swans grew by an
average of six percent per year during that period to about 3,500 birds,
suggesting that a limited hunt did not have a significant impact on the
population.

"The results of a five-year experiment with restricted tundra swan hunts
demonstrate that hunting can be managed in a way that protects the Rocky
Mountain population, and we see no reason to eliminate current swan
seasons," said Service Director Jamie Rappaport Clark. "We all share the
desire to protect trumpeter swans and enhance their ability to survive by
expanding their migratory range in the West, and we look forward to
working with our partners in the Pacific Flyway to achieve that goal."

The proposed action adopted in the final Environmental Assessment further
modifies the limited take and restricted hunting seasons on tundra swans
to give added protection to trumpeters. At the same time, it establishes a
permanent general swan season in Nevada and Montana and extends the
experimental season in Utah for an additional three years. Swan harvests
in Utah and Nevada would continue to be monitored and the hunting season
immediately closed if the states' quota of trumpeter swans is reached.

Trumpeters are classified as a migratory game bird. However prior to
1995, they had not been hunted since they came under the protection of
migratory
bird compacts beginning in 1913. The western population of tundra swans
has expanded steadily and is now at a historic high of more than 90,000
birds.

Concerns have been expressed that the limited swan hunting season in Utah
has discouraged the Rocky Mountain population of trumpeter swans from
dispersing south in the winter, where it remains concentrated in the
greater Yellowstone area of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Lack of dispersal
southward has created a severe "bottleneck" as increasing numbers of
trumpeters
arrive from Canadian nesting areas to spend the winter within Harriman State
Park on the
Henry's Fork of the Snake River in eastern Idaho. At this site, which
receives the
greatest amount of swan use, the aquatic plants can no longer provide
enough winter food to support the increasing flocks of swans, Canada
geese, and ducks. The population also remains vulnerable if a severe winter
hits
the area.

Given reasonable uncertainty about the effect of the swan season on
efforts to re-establish historic migratory routes south for trumpeter swans,
the
Service will establish a new experiment lasting three years with a
modified hunting season in Utah. Swan hunts will be closed in the Great Salt
Lake
Basin in Utah north of the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, an area that
has been open to swan hunts during the five-year experimental season. In
addition, the Service will reduce the allowable annual take of trumpeter
swans in Utah from the current 15 birds to 10, reduce the number of
general swan permits from 2,750 to 2,000, and continue all other hunting
restrictions imposed by the 1995 Environmental Assessment.

In addition, the Service will support and participate in cooperative
efforts to disperse the winter population of trumpeter swans and
re-establish southern migration routes. Efforts to haze trumpeters away
from Harriman State Park will continue, and the Service will continue the
suspension of supplemental feeding programs for both trumpeter and tundra
swans on Service-managed lands and work to create habitat in the current
wintering area that is less attractive to wintering swans.

"We intend to increase our efforts to expand the range of these
magnificent birds and establish new breeding populations in suitable
habitats
throughout the Pacific Flyway. While capture and translocation of birds
shouldn't be the first option, we will consider it whenever it is
necessary to protect the population," said Clark.

Once abundant and widespread throughout much of North America, trumpeter
swans were threatened with extinction by 1900 due to subsistence hunting
pressure, habitat loss and the commercial plumage trade. Small flocks
persisted only in Alaska and remote habitats of the Rocky Mountains. In
the lower 48 states and Canada, the last remaining 200 Rocky Mountain
trumpeters survived by wintering in the frigid wilderness in the
Yellowstone Region where warm springs kept small areas of water ice-free
regardless of winter severity.

Rocky Mountain trumpeters that wintered in the Yellowstone Region included
some that were year-round residents and others that migrated north each
spring to Canadian nesting areas. Virtually all of the trumpeters that
migrated south to milder wintering areas had died by 1930 and the use of
those traditional migration routes was lost. In addition to the loss of
historic migrations, for almost 60 years the last remaining trumpeters
were encouraged to winter in the Yellowstone Region. Although some attempted
to
explore and migrate further south, they had little success.

>From 1935-1992, the trumpeters were fed grain during winter at Red Rock
Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, 20 miles northwest of Harriman State Park.
Large sanctuaries in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and at
Harriman State Park also protected the swans from human disturbance. While
artificial feeding and sanctuaries saved the population from extinction,
they discouraged southward migration which is essential to long-term
recovery. Artificial feeding at Red Rock Lakes ceased in 1992.

The Service will complete a more detailed implementation plan in 2001 for
activities on Service lands designed to benefit trumpeter swans, and will
work with the Pacific Flyway Council to expand that plan to include
activities on other State, Federal and Private lands within the Pacific
Flyway. Failure to develop a comprehensive plan for the flyway by the fall
of 2002 will require the Service to re-evaluate the continuation of all
swan hunting activities in the Pacific Flyway.

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 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge
System which encompasses 525 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small
wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 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.



-FWS-


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