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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 166 / Tuesday, August 31, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
opportunities. A full and thorough benefit-cost analysis would quantify this benefit using the hunt and fish use day estimates and the best available information about the price of similar hunting activity on private lands. For example, the company onX estimates the average cost to be at least $10 per acre for a hunting lease see https
www.onxmaps.com/hunt/blog/how-dohunting-leases-work::text=
Todays%20hunters%20
can%20expect%20
to,the%20distance%20from%20
town%20ie.. This realized economic surplus for hunters and anglers would be an important part of any benefit-cost analysis and would ensure benefits exceed costs. That is reflected in the Improvement Act, where Congress emphasized the importance of providing this public benefit, finding that the Refuge Systems conservation mission has been facilitated by providing Americans opportunities to participate in compatible wildlife-dependent recreation, including fishing and hunting, on Refuge System lands. A
thorough benefit-cost analysis would also consider the fish and wildlife population management benefits of hunting and sport fishing to the extent that they provide population controls and target invasive species. That has a direct and quantifiable benefit in terms of reduced work hours from eliminating or reducing the need for refuge staff themselves to harvest fish and wildlife for population control and invasive species. Thus, we have determined that this rule is justified in terms of the ratio of benefits to costs, even if it will not have a significant impact on the economy.
We did not make any changes to the rule, including to our Regulatory Flexibility Act discussion and our certification that this rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities, as a result of these comments.
Comment 24: One commenter expressed concern that proposed hunting activities on refuges within the Potomac River NWR Complex, especially hunting of American black duck, would be inconsistent with or detrimental to the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture, a regional bird conservation effort in which the Service is a partner organization.
Our Response: We remain committed to and supportive of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture ACJV and its habitat and species conservation objectives. In permitting hunting within the Potomac River NWR Complex and allowing the hunting of American black duck as a target species, we are following all
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restrictions advocated by the ACJV and only providing limited hunting. For example, at Featherstone NWR, we will allow black duck hunting on 36 acres and the hunting season is November 17
28 and December 18January 30, with a daily bag limit of two black ducks.
Similarly, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, another partner to the ACJV, allows some hunting of American black duck on lands under its jurisdiction. Finally, as with any hunting in the Refuge System, hunting openings and expansions in the Potomac River NWR Complex have been evaluated by refuge managers for limited environmental effects, absence of adverse impacts to endangered species, compatibility with refuge purposes, and consistency with the refuges CCP. In authorizing these hunts, we have determined that they will not impede conservation efforts for the American black duck or other species of interest to the ACJV.
We did not make any changes to the rule as a result of this comment.
Comment 25: We received two comments with concerns that the information in the proposed rule was not easily understood, specifically in Table 1 concerning the meaning of O
and E in the table.
Our Response: As designated by the table key for the proposed rules Table 1, O designates that the station is opening a new species in the respective category of species to hunting or opening fishing on the station, and E
designates that the station is expanding hunting for species in the respective category or expanding sport fishing on the station.
We revised Table 1 to account for changes to hunting and fishing openings and expansions in response to other public comments, but did not make any changes to the rule as a result of this comment.
Comment 26: Two commenters expressed concern about the use and disposal of fishing line on the Potomac River NWR Complex.
Our Response: The Service recognizes that discarded fishing line can present a danger to fish and to wildlife. In general, we educate anglers about this problem and the importance of proper disposal of fishing line. In this particular case, in addition to enforcing all State regulations on sport fishing, the refuges in the Potomac River NWR
Complex will include information in their brochures and on their websites directing anglers to dispose of trash and fishing line, of all varieties, properly.
We did not make any changes to the rule as a result of these comments.

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Changes From the Proposed Rule As discussed above, under Summary of Comments and Responses, based on comments we received on the proposed rule and NEPA documents for individual refuges and hatcheries, we made changes in this final rule to Bill Williams River, Bald Knob, Big Lake, Cache River, Holla Bend, Wapanocca, Cape May, Supawna Meadows, and William L. Finley NWRs. For Bald Knob, Big Lake, Cache River, Holla Bend, and Wapanocca NWRs, we removed the proposed language adding armadillo to the list of species available to hunt in response to comments and made administrative language changes to align the regulatory language across these refuges. For William L. Finley NWR, we removed the proposed language adding merganser to the list of species available to hunt in response to the State of Oregons request for alignment. For Cape May and Supawna Meadows NWRs, we extended the hours we are open to fishing in response to the State of New Jersey. Under Bill Williams River NWR, we modified the methods of take allowed for javelina hunting in response to the State of Arizona. For Missisquoi and Silvio O. Conte NWRs, we revised our language authorizing the use of dogs while hunting in response to comments.
We removed all proposed hunting and fishing openings and expansions at Necedah NWR and Loess Bluffs NWR.
The expansions at Necedah NWR are not included in this final rule because the underlying analyses for these actions may require further consideration. There are still regulatory changes for Necedah NWR in this final rule, but these are administrative revisions for consistency and clarity unrelated to the proposed expansions.
The openings and expansions at Loess Bluffs NWR are not included in this final rule because of concerns expressed by the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska. We will continue discussions with the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska on how these acres and species may be considered for opening to hunting in the future.
We have removed the language authorizing fishing at the former National Bison Range refuge in Montana. This refuge has been transferred to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021
Pub. L. 116260, and we no longer have jurisdiction over public use on the land.
We made minor, clarifying edits to the regulatory language for other refuges, including Dale Bumpers White River,
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