NRC March Meeting Preview

This Thursday, March 15, 2018, the Natural Resources Commission (NRC) will be meeting at West Walker Sportsman’s Club, Grand Rapids beginning at 9:00 a.m. for their monthly meeting.

The NRC Marketing, Partnership, Youth and Outreach Advisory Committee will start the day with presentations on the Michigan Wildlife Council’s campaign, an update on the newly redesigned DNR website, a fishing marketing and communications update, as well as an update from the NRC Youth Advisory Council.

At 10:30 a.m. the NRC Policy Committee on Wildlife and Fisheries will come together and have updates from both the DNR Fisheries and Wildlife Divisions. Fisheries will be providing an update on aquatic invasive species, and the Wildlife Division will be presenting on elk regulations, bear trend analysis and plan update, as well as Public Act 03 of 2018: introduction of a new 3-day non-resident small game license with waterfowl issuing rights, and Public Act 04 of 2018: allowing mentored youth to purchase additional licenses.

At 1:00 p.m. the NRC Committee of the Whole will join together for the regular meeting of the NRC, followed by public appearances.

Items up for action at this meeting include Wildlife Conservation Order Amendment No. 3 of 2018, which deals with the migratory game bird hunting seasons. Recommendations for the 2018-19 migratory bird seasons include:

• The season for the Federal youth waterfowl season be changed to the third weekend in September (Sept. 15 and 16, 2018)
• An early teal season from Sept. 1-16 statewide, with a daily bag limit of 6 teal and a possession limit of 18 which is three times the daily limit, and hunting hours beginning at sunrise
• The 2018 duck season dates and bag limits
  • North Zone – Sept. 29 to Nov. 25 and Dec. 1 to Dec. 1
  • Middle Zone – Oct. 6 to Dec. 2 and Dec. 15 to Dec. 16
  • South Zone – Oct. 13 to Dec. 9 and Dec. 29 to Dec. 30
• The 2018 Canada goose season dates and bag limits
  • North Zone regular season: Sept. 1-30 (5-bird daily bag limit) and Oct. 1 to Dec. 16 (3-bird daily bag limit
  • Middle Zone: Sept. 1-30 (5-bird daily bag limit) and Oct. 6 to Dec. 21 (3-bird daily bag limit)
  • South Zone: Sept. 1-30 (5-bird daily bag limit), Oct. 13 to Dec. 9 (3-bird daily bag limit), Dec. 29 -30 (3-bird daily bag limit), and Jan. 26 to Feb. 11, 2019 (3-bird daily bag limit0
  • Allegan GMU: Sept. 1-16 (5-bird daily bag limit), Nov. 3-13 (3-bird daily bag limit), Nov. 22 to Dec. 9 (3-bird daily bag limit), and Dec. 15 to Feb. 14, 2019 (3-bird daily bag limit)
  • Muskegon County Waste Water GMU: Oct. 16 to Nov. 13 (3-bird daily bag limit) and Dec. 1-22 (3-bird daily bag limit)
• Falconry season dates for the additional days outside the gun hunting seasons for ducks, mergansers, coots and moorhens are Dec. 31 to Jan 14, 2019, and Feb. 19 to March 10, 2019. Daily bag limits will remain the same

MUCC will be live streaming the meeting on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mucc1937/ beginning at 10:30 a.m. and the full memorandum and agenda for the March 15, 2018, NRC meeting can be found here: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/March_Agenda_616730_7.pdf. We hope to see you there!