The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission has approved the repeal of a ban on all hunting in a portion of Orleans Parish that had been in effect since 1991. The prohibition was enacted by the LWFC to aid the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) during establishment of the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, the largest urban wildlife refuge in the United States.
The move, recommended by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and approved during the Commission’s Aug. 1 meeting, will provide for youth waterfowl hunting opportunities on the Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuge, as well as continued feral hog control on the NWR by the Service to reduce wildlife habitat damage on the refuge.
The Commission’s action effects that portion of Orleans Parish east of the Jefferson-Orleans Parish line, northward to the southern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain, northeast along the southern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain to South Point, east-southeast along the southern shoreline of Lake Pontchartrain to Chef Pass, the southern shoreline of Chef Pass eastward to the western shoreline of the Intra-Coastal Waterway, the western shoreline of the Intra-Coastal Waterway southward to the Industrial Canal, the Industrial Canal south to the Mississippi River, and the Mississippi River to the Orleans-Jefferson Parish line. The action will become effective Sept. 1, 2013. Public comment on the action can be submitted to Tommy Tuma, Biologist Director, Habitat Stewardship Branch of Wildlife Division, until November 7, 2013.
For more information, contact Tommy Tuma, LDWF Wildlife Division, at 225-765-2349 or ttuma@wlf.la.gov.