[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 50, Volume 6]

[Revised as of October 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 50CFR21.52]



[Page 95-98]

 

                    TITLE 50--WILDLIFE AND FISHERIES

 

 CHAPTER I--UNITED STATES FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE 

                          INTERIOR (CONTINUED)

 

PART 21_MIGRATORY BIRD PERMITS--Table of Contents

 

     Subpart D_Control of Depredating and Otherwise Injurious Birds

 

Sec.  21.52  Public health control order for resident Canada geese.



    (a) Which Canada geese are covered by this order? This regulation 

addresses the control and management of resident Canada geese, as 

defined in Sec.  21.3.



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    (b) What is the public health control order for resident Canada 

geese, and what is its purpose? The public health control order for 

resident Canada geese authorizes States, Tribes, and the District of 

Columbia, via the State or Tribal wildlife agency, to conduct resident 

Canada goose control and management activities including direct control 

strategies such as trapping and relocation, nest and egg destruction, 

gosling and adult trapping and culling programs, or other lethal and 

non-lethal wildlife damage-management strategies when resident Canada 

geese are posing a direct threat to human health.

    (c) What is a direct threat to human health? A direct threat to 

human health is one where a Federal, State, Tribal, or local public 

health agency has determined that resident Canada geese pose a specific, 

immediate human health threat by creating conditions conducive to the 

transmission of human or zoonotic pathogens. The State or Tribe may not 

use this control order for situations in which resident Canada geese are 

merely causing a nuisance.

    (d) Who may participate in the program? Only State and Tribal 

wildlife agencies in the lower 48 States and the District of Columbia 

(or their employees or agents) may conduct and implement the various 

components of the public health control order for resident Canada geese.

    (e) What are the restrictions of the public health depredation order 

for resident Canada geese? The public health control order for resident 

Canada geese is subject to the following restrictions:

    (1) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies should use 

nonlethal goose management tools to the extent they deem appropriate.

    (2)(i) Methods of take for the control of resident Canada geese are 

at the State's and Tribe's discretion from among the following:

    (A) Egg oiling,

    (B) Egg and nest destruction,

    (C) Shotguns,

    (D) Lethal and live traps,

    (E) Nets,

    (F) Registered animal drugs, pesticides, and repellants,

    (G) Cervical dislocation, and

    (H) CO2 asphyxiation.

    (ii) Birds caught live may be euthanized or transported and 

relocated to another site approved by the State or Tribal wildlife 

agency, if required.

    (iii) All techniques used must be in accordance with other Federal, 

State, Tribal, and local laws, and their use must comply with any 

labeling restrictions.

    (iv) Persons using shotguns must use nontoxic shot, as listed in 

Sec.  20.21(j) of this subchapter.

    (v) Persons using egg oiling must use 100 percent corn oil, a 

substance exempted from regulation by the U.S. Environmental Protection 

Agency under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

    (3) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies and their 

employees and agents may conduct management and control activities, 

involving the take of resident Canada geese, under this section between 

April 1 and August 31. The destruction of resident Canada goose nests 

and eggs may take place between March 1 and June 30.

    (4) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies and their 

employees and agents may possess, transport, and otherwise dispose of 

resident Canada geese taken under this section. Disposal of birds taken 

under this order may be by donation to public museums or public 

institutions for scientific or educational purposes, processing for 

human consumption and subsequent distribution free of charge to 

charitable organizations, or burial or incineration. States, their 

employees, and designated agents may not sell, offer for sale, barter, 

or ship for the purpose of sale or barter any resident Canada geese 

taken under this section, nor their plumage or eggs. Any specimens 

needed for scientific purposes as determined by the Regional Director 

must not be destroyed, and information on birds carrying metal leg bands 

must be submitted to the Bird Banding Laboratory by means of a toll-free 

telephone number at 1-800-327-BAND (or 2263).

    (5) Resident Canada geese may be taken only within the specified 

area of the direct threat to human health.

    (6) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies, and their 

employees and agents operating under the provisions



[[Page 97]]



of this section may not use decoys, calls, or other devices to lure 

birds within gun range.

    (7) No person conducting activities under this section should 

construe the program as authorizing the killing of resident Canada geese 

or destruction of their nests and eggs contrary to any State law or 

regulation, nor may any control activities be conducted on any Federal 

land without specific authorization by the responsible management 

agency. No person may exercise the privileges granted under this section 

unless they possess any permits required for such activities by any 

State or Federal land manager.

    (8) Any State or Tribal employee or designated agent authorized to 

carry out activities under this section must have a copy of the State's 

or Tribal authorization and designation in their possession when 

carrying out any activities. If the State or Tribe is conducting 

operations on private property, the State or Tribe must also require the 

property owner or occupant on whose premises resident Canada goose 

activities are being conducted to allow, at all reasonable times, 

including during actual operations, free and unrestricted access to any 

Service special agent or refuge officer, State or Tribal wildlife or 

deputy wildlife agent, warden, protector, or other wildlife law 

enforcement officer on the premises where they are, or were, conducting 

activities. Furthermore, any State or Tribal employee or designated 

agent conducting such activities must promptly furnish whatever 

information is required concerning such activities to any such wildlife 

officer.

    (9) States and Tribes exercising the privileges granted by this 

section must submit an annual report summarizing activities, including 

the numbers and County of birds taken, by December 31 of each year to 

the Regional Migratory Bird Permit Office listed in Sec.  2.2 of this 

subchapter.

    (10) Authorized State and Tribal wildlife agencies may not undertake 

any actions under this section if the activities adversely affect other 

migratory birds or species designated as endangered or threatened under 

the authority of the Endangered Species Act. Persons operating under 

this order must immediately report the take of any species protected 

under the Endangered Species Act to the Service. Further, to protect 

certain species from being adversely affected by management actions, 

State and Tribal wildlife agencies must:

    (i) Follow the Federal-State Contingency Plan for the whooping 

crane;

    (ii) Conduct no activities within 300 meters of a whooping crane or 

Mississippi sandhill crane nest;

    (iii) Follow all Regional (or National when available) Bald Eagle 

Nesting Management guidelines for all management activities;

    (iv) Contact the Arizona Fish and Wildlife Service Ecological 

Services Office (for the Colorado River and Arizona sites) or the 

Carlsbad Fish and Wildlife Office (for Salton Sea sites) if control 

activities are proposed in or around occupied habitats (cattail or 

cattail bulrush marshes) to discuss the proposed activity and ensure 

that implementation will not adversely affect clapper rails or their 

habitats; and

    (v) In California, any control activities of resident Canada geese 

in areas used by the following species listed under the Endangered 

Species Act must be done in coordination with the appropriate local FWS 

field office and in accordance with standard local operating procedures 

for avoiding adverse effects to the species or its critical habitat:

    (A) Birds: Light-footed clapper rail, California clapper rail, Yuma 

clapper rail, California least tern, southwestern willow flycatcher, 

least Bell's vireo, western snowy plover, California gnatcatcher.

    (B) Amphibians: California red-legged frog and California tiger 

salamander.

    (C) Insects: Valley elderberry longhorn beetle and delta green 

ground beetle.

    (D) Crustaceans: Vernal pool fairy shrimp, conservancy fairy shrimp, 

longhorn fairy shrimp, vernal pool tadpole shrimp, San Diego fairy 

shrimp, and Riverside fairy shrimp.

    (E) Plants: Butte County meadowfoam, large-flowered wooly 

meadowfoam, Cook's lomatium, Contra Costa goldfields, Hoover's spurge, 

fleshy owl's clover, Colusa grass, hairy Orcutt grass, Solano grass, 

Greene's



[[Page 98]]



tuctoria, Sacramento Valley Orcutt grass, San Joaquin Valley Orcutt 

grass, slender Orcutt grass, California Orcutt grass, spreading 

navarretia, and San Jacinto Valley crownscale.

    (f) Can the control order be suspended? We reserve the right to 

suspend or revoke a State's or Tribe's authority under this program if 

we find that the terms and conditions specified in the depredation order 

have not been adhered to by that agency. Final decisions to revoke 

authority will be made by the appropriate Regional Director. The 

criteria and procedures for suspension, revocation, reconsideration, and 

appeal are outlined in Sec. Sec.  13.27 through 13.29 of this 

subchapter. For the purposes of this section, ``issuing officer'' means 

the Regional Director and ``permit'' means the authority to act under 

this control order. For purposes of Sec.  13.29(e), appeals must be made 

to the Director. Additionally, at such time that we determine that 

resident Canada geese populations no longer pose direct threats to human 

health, we may choose to terminate part or all of the control order by 

subsequent regulation. In all cases, we will annually review the 

necessity and effectiveness of the control order.

    (g) Has the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the 

information collection requirements of the control order? OMB has 

approved the information collection and recordkeeping requirements of 

the control order under OMB control number 1018-0133. We may not conduct 

or sponsor, and you are not required to respond to, a collection of 

information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. You 

may send comments on the information collection and recordkeeping 

requirements to the Service's Information Collection Clearance Officer, 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS 222-ARLSQ, 1849 C Street, NW., 

Washington, DC 20240.



[71 FR 45990, Aug. 10, 2006]