8145398, 68A-17.005 - Florida Administrative Rules, Law, Code, Register

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Florida Department of State and Division of Library and Information Services

Notice: 8145398

Notice of Proposed Rule

Department:

FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION

Division:

Freshwater Fish and Wildlife

Chapter:

WILDLIFE AND ENVIRONMENTAL AREAS

Overview

RULE:

68A-17.005

Specific Regulations for Wildlife and Environmental Areas

PURPOSE:

The purpose of the proposed rule changes is to revise specific area regulations on Wildlife and Environmental Areas (WEAs) and conform to calendar year date changes. The effect of the proposed rule changes will be to enable the agency to better manage fish and wildlife resources and public use on WEAs.

SUMMARY:

The proposed rule changes would revise or establish specific area regulations on WEAs as follows:
Southwest Region.
Bullfrog Creek Mitigation Park – require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
Chinsegut WEA – clarify that public access is limited to foot traffic unless participating in Commission sponsored activities; allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset; prohibit the possession of any animal; and require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances.
Crooked Lake Mitigation Park (NEW) 1,147 acres – prohibit the possession of any animal; limit public access to foot traffic; require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
Hickey Creek Mitigation Park – require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances.
Janet Butterfield Brooks Mitigation Park (NEW) 319 acres – prohibit public access as required by the acquisition agreement.
Lake Wales Ridge WEA – prohibit the possession of any animal, except dogs under physical restraint are allowed and horses are allowed by permit; limit public access to foot traffic, bicycle or horses; require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
Lake Wales Ridge WEA, Royce Unit – move the wild hog-still hunt dates from January to May and remove the quota permit requirement; prohibit the use of horses during periods open for hunting; and expand scouting opportunities by allowing vehicle access on named roads one day prior to all hunts except small game.
Moody Branch Mitigation Park (NEW) 960 acres – prohibit the possession of any animal, except horses are allowed by permit; limit public access to foot traffic or horses; require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
Perry Oldenburg Mitigation Park – prohibit the possession of any animal; require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
Platt Branch Mitigation Park – require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; and allow public access from 0.5 hours before sunrise until 0.5 hours after sunset.
North Central Region
Bell Ridge Mitigation Park (NEW) 720 acres – prohibit possession of any animal; allow access only on foot; and allow entrance and exit at designated entrances.
Fort White Mitigation Park – establish three 5-day archery hunts (quota 10, no exemptions); establish a 14-day small game season; establish two 5-day spring turkey hunts (quota 3, no exemptions); establish a falconry season with statewide dates; allow fishing and frogging only along the bank of the Santa Fe River; prohibit trapping; establish as legal to take all legal game, fish, frogs and furbearers; set the bag limit for deer during archery season at one antlered or one antlerless deer per quota permit; set the bag limit for turkey during spring turkey season at one gobbler or bearded turkey per quota permit; require persons enter and exit at designated entrances; allow access from 1.5 hours before sunrise until 1.5 hours after sunset; prohibit possession of any animal, except that dogs may be used for trailing wounded game, bird dogs may be used for hunting during the small game season and falcons may be used during the falconry season; prohibit access by motorized vehicles; remove rule that restricts access to foot traffic only; allow bicycles to be ridden on firebreaks, well-defined roads and trails; allow access during the archery and spring turkey seasons only to persons participating in the hunt; and prohibit the use of centerfire rifles during the spring turkey season.
Lafayette Forest WEA (NEW) 2,148 acres – establish three 5-day archery hunts (quota 15, no exemptions); establish a 3-day muzzleloading gun season (quota 15, no exemptions); establish two 2-day family hunts (quota 10, no exemptions); establish two 5-day wild hog-still hunts (quota 20, no exemptions); establish two 3-day spring turkey hunts (quota 5, no exemptions); establish a falconry season with statewide dates; establish as legal to take all legal game, fish and furbearers; allow fishing year round; prohibit trapping; set the bag limit for deer during the archery season at one antlered or one antlerless deer per quota permit; set the bag limit for deer during the family hunts at one antlered or one antlerless deer per person; set the bag limit for deer during the muzzleloading gun season at one antlered deer per quota permit; set the bag limit for turkeys during the spring turkey season at one gobbler or bearded turkey per quota permit; only allow wild hog to be hunted during the wild hog-still season; require that all persons shall enter and exit at designated entrances; public access will be allowed only from 1.5 hours before sunrise until 1.5 hours after sunset, except that persons with a Special Use Authorization for Mallory Swamp WMA, from the Suwannee River WMD, may travel McCalls Chapel Grade; prohibit possession of any animal, except a dog on a leash may be used for trailing wounded game, dogs may be transported throughout the year on McCall Chapel Grade and falcons may be used during the falconry season; prohibit access by motorized vehicles except on Lafayette Loop and McCall Chapel Grade; allow Lafayette Loop to be driven on only by persons authorized to participate in the hunts and only on hunt days and the day prior to each hunt; during hunting periods access will be limited to persons participating in the hunt, except that McCall Chapel Grade will be open to the public access year round; and prohibit the use of all-terrain vehicles and unlicensed and unregistered motorcycles.
Santa Fe Swamp WEA – allow public access only from 1.5 hours before sunrise until 1.5 hours after sunset unless in possession of a Special Use Authorization from the Suwannee River Water Management District.
Suwannee Ridge WEA – allow public access only from 1.5 hours before sunrise until 1.5 hours after sunset.
Watermelon Pond WEA (NEW) 4,231 acres – establish a 9-day archery season (no quota); establish two 2-week small game hunts; establish a falconry season with statewide dates; establish as legal to take all legal game, fish and furbearers; prohibit trapping; allow fishing and frogging throughout the year; establish the bag limit for deer of one per person; require persons to enter and exit at designated entrances; prohibit access by motorized vehicles; allow bicycles to be ridden only on named or numbered roads or designated bicycling trails; prohibit the possession of any animal except that horses may be ridden on roads and designated trails, dogs on a leash may be used to track wounded game, bird dogs and waterfowl retrievers may be used for hunting during the small game season and falcons may be used during the falconry season; and allow public access only from 1.5 hours before sunrise until 1.5 hours after sunset.
Northwest Region
Apalachicola River WEA – clarify that there is no crossbow season; establish a wild hog-dog season with five 3-day hunts (quota 5 per hunt, no exemptions) for that portion of the area west of Saul Creek Road, south of a line running east from Misfit Landing to the Apalachicola River and west of the Apalachicola River; allow up to two hunters and one guest, the use of no more than three free-running dogs and only one gun per quota permit during the wild hog-dog hunts; specify that wild hog-dog hunts will begin at 12:01 a.m. on the first day of the hunt and end at 11:59 p.m. (midnight) the last day of the hunt; prohibit hunting from sunrise to sunset during the wild hog-dog season; allow wild hogs to be hunted during the wild hog-dog season by the aid of a light with a firearm, provided that the firearm is not loaded until immediately prior to shooting a bayed hog (hunting of wild hog under this provision by display or use of a light from a moving vehicle, boat or animal is prohibited); and limit camping on Northwest Florida Water Management District lands to no more than 14 consecutive days.
South Region
John C. and Mariana Jones/Hungryland WEA – establish an 8-day spring turkey season with hunting allowed on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays (no quota); and bird dogs and retrievers may be used to hunt migratory birds during migratory bird seasons.
John G. and Susan H. Dupuis, Jr. WEA – move the wild hog-still hunts that currently occur on weekdays to weekends (Friday through Sunday); allow public access during the wild hog-still hunts; specify that hunters camping during the hog-still hunts shall use the Family Use campground on Jim Lake grade or primitive campsites on hiking trails; and prohibit the take of deer during wild hog-still season.
Northeast Region.
Split Oak Forest Mitigation Park – prohibit the possession of any animal, except horses are allowed by permit.
Additional proposed rule changes would provide non-substantive technical changes, such as grammatical corrections, language standardization, or clarification of an existing rule.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY:

Article IV, Section 9, Florida Constitution.

LAW:

Article IV, Section 9, Florida Constitution 375.313 FS.

PRINT PUBLISH DATE:

1/15/2010 Vol. 36/02

COMMENTS:

From 1/15/2010 To 2/5/2010 (21 Days)
The public comment period for this notice has already expired.

REFERENCE MATERIALS:

No reference(s).

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