Tell the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service your opinion about the Assabet River NWR. The right to hunt on this 2,230-acre parcel is in jeopardy. A suit filed by anti-hunting group, The Fund for Animals, against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in March 2003 alleges that the Service did not fully meet the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act in opening hunt programs at 37 national wildlife refuges between 1997 and 2003. These areas are along the eastern seaboard from Maine to Virginia. Assabet River NWR, Great Meadows NWR, and Oxbow NWR are in Massachusetts. The lawsuit required the Service to draft a new environmental assessment looking at the cumulative impact of hunting programs in these areas. The Service considers hunting to be an important tool for managing wildlife populations and recommends keeping the areas open to hunting. But they need your support. The draft environmental assessment for Assabet River is available for public review and comment through April 16, 2007. Click here to read the draft environmental assessment or attend a public meeting at the headquarters of the Eastern Massachusetts NWR Complex, 73 Weir Hill Road, in Sudbury, MA, on Wednesday, April 11 from 1p.m.–3p.m. or 6p.m.–8p.m. Take part and tell them what you think. Don’t let our hunting lands be taken away.