The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter the Service) proposes to establish annual hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds. The Service also requests proposals from Indian tribes that wish to establish special migratory bird hunting regulations. The establishment of these regulations will permit the taking of the designated species during the 1998-99 hunting season. The Service annually prescribes outside limits (frameworks) within which States may select hunting seasons. The Service has also employed guidelines to establish special migratory bird hunting regulations on Federal Indian reservations and ceded lands. These seasons provide hunting opportunities for recreation and sustenance; aid Federal, State, and tribal governments in the management of migratory game birds; and are designed to permit harvests at levels compatible with migratory bird population status and habitat conditions.

DATES:

Tribes should submit proposals and related comments by June 2, 1998. The comment period for proposed early-season frameworks will end on July 27, 1998; and for proposed late-season frameworks on September 7, 1998. The Service will hold a public hearing for early-season frameworks on June 25, 1998, at 9 a.m. and late-season frameworks on August 6, 1998, at 9 a.m.

ADDRESSES:

The Service will hold both public hearings in the Auditorium, Department of the Interior Building, 1849 C Street NW., Washington, DC.

The public may submit written comments on the proposals and notice of intention to testify at either hearing to the Chief, Office of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, ms 634--ARLSQ, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240.

All comments received, including names and addresses, will become part of the public record. The public may inspect comments received during normal business hours in room 634, Arlington Square Building, 4401 N. Fairfax Drive, Arlington, Virginia.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ron W. Kokel at: Office of Migratory Bird Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior, ms 634--ARLSQ, 1849 C Street, NW., Washington, DC 20240 (703) 358-1714.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

For administrative purposes, this document consolidates the notice of intent and request for tribal proposals with the preliminary proposals for the annual regulations-development process. The Service will publish the remaining proposed and final rulemaking documents separately. For inquiries on tribal guidelines and proposals, please contact the following personnel.

--Region 1--Brad Bortner, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 911 N.E. 11th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97232-4181; (503) 231-6164.

--Region 2--Jeff Haskins, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87103; (505) 248-7885.

--Region 3--Steve Wilds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Building, One Federal Drive, Fort Snelling, Minnesota 55111-4056; (612) 725-3737.

--Region 4--Frank Bowers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1875 Century Boulevard, Room 324, Atlanta, Georgia 30345; (404) 679-4000.

--Region 5--George Haas, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 300 Westgate Center Drive, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035-9589; (413) 253-8576.

--Region 6--John Cornely, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 25486, Denver Federal Building, Denver, Colorado 80225; (303) 236-8145.

--Region 7--Robert Leedy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Road, Anchorage, Alaska 99503; (907) 786-3423. Notice of Intent to Establish Open Seasons

This notice announces the intention of the Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to establish open hunting seasons and daily bag and possession limits for certain designated groups or species of migratory game birds for 1998-1999 in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, under Secs. 20.101 through 20.107, 20.109, and 20.110 of subpart K of 50 CFR part 20.

``Migratory game birds'' are those bird species so designated in conventions between the United States and several foreign nations for the protection and management of these birds. All other birds designated as migratory (under 10.13 of Subpart B of 50 CFR Part 10) in the aforementioned conventions may not be hunted. For the 1998-99 hunting season, the Service will propose regulations for certain designated members of the avian families Anatidae (ducks, geese, and swans); Columbidae (doves and pigeons); Gruidae (cranes); Rallidae (rails, coots, moorhens, and gallinules); and Scolopacidae (woodcock and snipe). These proposals are described under Proposed 1998-99 Migratory Game Bird Hunting Regulations (Preliminary) in this document. Definitions of waterfowl flyways and mourning dove management units, as well as a description of the data used in and the factors affecting the regulatory process, were published in the March 14, 1990, Federal Register (55 FR 9618).

Regulatory Schedule for 1998-1999

This is the first in a series of proposed and final rulemaking documents for migratory game bird hunting regulations. The Service will make proposals relating to the harvest of migratory game birds initiated after publication of this proposed rulemaking available for public review in supplemental proposed rulemakings published in the Federal Register. Also, the Service will publish additional supplemental proposals for public comment in the Federal Register as population, habitat, harvest, and other information become available. Because of the late dates when certain portions of these data become available, the Service anticipates that comment periods on some proposals will be necessarily abbreviated. Special circumstances limit the amount of time which the Service can allow for public comment on these regulations. Specifically, two considerations compress the time for the rulemaking process: the need, on one hand, to establish final rules at a time early enough in the summer to allow resource agencies to select and publish season dates and bag limits prior to the hunting seasons and, on the other hand, the lack of current data on the status of most migratory game birds until later in the summer. Because the process is strongly influenced by the times when information is available for consideration, the overall regulations process is divided into two segments. Early seasons are those seasons that generally open prior to October 1, and include seasons in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Late seasons are those seasons opening in the remainder of the United States about [[Page 13749]] October 1 and later, and include most of the waterfowl seasons. Major steps in the 1998-1999 regulatory cycle relating to public hearings and Federal Register notifications are illustrated in the accompanying diagram. Dates shown relative to publication of Federal Register documents are target dates. Sections of this and subsequent documents which outline hunting frameworks and guidelines are organized under numbered headings. These headings are:

Later sections of this and subsequent documents will refer only to numbered items requiring attention. Therefore, we will omit those items requiring no attention and remaining numbered items will be discontinuous and appear incomplete.