106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2454
AN ACT
To assure the long-term conservation of mid-con-
tinent light geese and the biological diversity of
the ecosystem upon which many North American
migratory birds depend, by directing the Sec-
retary of the Interior to implement rules to re-
duce the overabundant population of mid-con-
tinent light geese.
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2454
AN ACT
To assure the long-term conservation of mid-continent light
geese and the biological diversity of the ecosystem upon
which many North American migratory birds depend,
by directing the Secretary of the Interior to implement
rules to reduce the overabundant population of mid-con-
tinent light geese.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Arctic Tundra Habitat
Emergency Conservation Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds the following:
(1) The winter index population of mid-con-
tinent light geese was 800,000 birds in 1969, while
the total population of such geese is more than
5,200,000 birds today.
(2) The population of mid-continent light geese
is expanding by over 5 percent each year, and in the
absence of new wildlife management actions it could
grow to more than 6,800,000 breeding light geese in
3 years.
(3) The primary reasons for this unprecedented
population growth are—
(A) the expansion of agricultural areas and
the resulting abundance of cereal grain crops in
the United States;
(B) the establishment of sanctuaries along
the United States flyways of migrating light
geese; and
(C) a decline in light geese harvest rates.
(4) As a direct result of this population explo-
sion, the Hudson Bay Lowlands Salt-Marsh eco-
system in Canada is being systematically destroyed.
This ecosystem contains approximately 135,000
acres of essential habitat for migrating light geese
and many other avian species. Biologists have testi-
fied that one-third of this habitat has been de-
stroyed, one-third is on the brink of devastation, and
the remaining one-third is overgrazed.
(5) The destruction of the Arctic tundra is hav-
ing a severe negative impact on many avian species
that breed or migrate through this habitat, including
the following:
(A) Canada Goose.
(B) American Wigeon.
(C) Dowitcher.
(D) Hudsonian Godwit.
(E) Stilt Sandpiper.
(F) Northern Shoveler.
(G) Red-Breasted Merganser.
(H) Oldsquaw.
(I) Parasitic Jaeger.
(J) Whimbrel.
(K) Yellow Rail.
(6) It is essential that the current population of
mid-continent light geese be reduced by 50 percent
by the year 2005 to ensure that the fragile Arctic
tundra is not irreversibly damaged.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are the fol-
lowing:
(1) To reduce the population of mid-continent
light geese.
(2) To assure the long-term conservation of
mid-continent light geese and the biological diversity
of the ecosystem upon which many North American
migratory birds depend.
SEC. 3. FORCE AND EFFECT OF RULES TO CONTROL OVER-
ABUNDANT MID-CONTINENT LIGHT GEESE
POPULATIONS.
(a) FORCE AND EFFECT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The rules published by the
Service on February 16, 1999, relating to use of ad-
ditional hunting methods to increase the harvest of
mid-continent light geese (64 Fed. Reg. 7507–7517)
and the establishment of a conservation order for
the reduction of mid-continent light goose popu-
lations (64 Fed. Reg. 7517–7528), shall have the
force and effect of law.