2024-08723. Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council Meeting

AGENCY:

Fish and Wildlife Service, Interior.

ACTION:

Notice of virtual meeting.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) gives notice of a virtual meeting of the Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council (Council), in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act.

DATES:

Meeting: The Council will meet on Friday, May 17, 2024, from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. (eastern time).

Registration: Registration to attend or participate in the meeting is required. The registration deadline is Monday, May 13, 2024. To register, please contact the Designated Federal Officer (DFO) (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ).

Public Comment: If you wish to provide oral public comment or provide a written comment for the Council to consider, contact the DFO (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ) no later than Monday, May 13, 2024.

Accessibility: The deadline for accessibility accommodation requests is Monday, May 13, 2024. For more information, please see Accessibility Information below.

ADDRESSES:

The meeting will be held via a virtual meeting platform. To register and receive the web address and telephone number for virtual participation, contact the DFO (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Douglas Hobbs, DFO, by email at [e-mail], or by telephone at 703-358-2336. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Under the authority of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. ch. 10), the Hunting and Wildlife Conservation Council (Council) was established to further the provisions of the Fish and Wildlife Act of 1956 (16 U.S.C. 742a et seq.), the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1701-1785), the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997 (16 U.S.C. 668dd-ee), other statutes applicable to specific Department of the Interior bureaus, and Executive Order 13443 of August 16, 2007, “Facilitation of Hunting Heritage and Wildlife Conservation” (72 FR 46537, August 20, 2007). The Council's purpose is to provide recommendations to the Federal Government, through the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture, regarding policies and endeavors that (a) benefit wildlife resources; (b) encourage partnership among the public, sporting conservation organizations, and Federal, State, Tribal, and territorial governments; and (c) benefit fair-chase recreational hunting and safe recreational shooting sports.

Meeting Agenda

Among other business to be addressed by the Council, the meeting will include:

• reports by Council subcommittees;

• discussion of and further consideration of the Council recommendations related to the management and future use of lead and non-lead ammunition on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's lands and waters, including discussion of a National Wildlife Refuge System concept for non-lead ammunition pilot programs;

• discussion and further consideration of a Council recommendation pertaining to land appraisal and land exchange processes at both the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture;
• briefings from Federal agency staff on the fiscal year 2025 budget request for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, mature and old-growth forest regulations by the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management solar energy draft programmatic environmental impact statement; and
• a briefing on the name change of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program to the Office of Conservation Investment.

The Council will also hear public comment if members of the public make such requests. The final agenda and other related meeting information will be available on the Council website, https://www.fws.gov/​program/​hwcc.

Public Input

Depending on the number of people who want to comment and the time available, the amount of time for individual oral comments may be limited. Interested parties should contact the DFO in writing (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ) for placement on the public speaker list for this meeting. Requests to address the Council during the meeting will be accommodated in the order the requests are received. Registered speakers who wish to expand upon their oral statements, or those who had wished to speak but could not be accommodated on the agenda, may submit written statements to the DFO up to 30 days following the meeting.

Accessibility Information

Please make requests in advance for sign language interpreter services, assistive listening devices, or other reasonable accommodations. Please contact the DFO (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT ) no later than Monday, May 13, 2024, to give the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sufficient time to process your request. All reasonable accommodation requests are managed on a case-by-case basis.

Public Disclosure

Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information on any comments you might have about this notice, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Authority:5 U.S.C. ch. 10.

Roya Mogadam,

Acting Assistant Director, Office of Communications.