Florida Fish and Wildlife Meeting to Focus on CWD Prevention
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) will hold a public meeting Aug. 8 in Gainesville to discuss possible options for minimizing the risk of chronic wasting disease (CWD) coming into Florida.
The meeting is at the Paramount Plaza Hotel, 2900 S.W. 13th Street, Ballroom A/B, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and is open to the public.
CWD is not known to affect people but is a contagious neurological disease affecting deer, elk and moose. The disease is always fatal, and there is no known cure or vaccine. So far, the disease has been discovered in 22 states, two Canadian provinces and South Korea.
The meeting will begin with a presentation by Commission staff on the significance of CWD and will include a discussion on possible solutions for minimizing the risk of the disease being brought into the state.
For more information, contact Curtis Brown at Curtis.Brown@MyFWC.com or 850-617-9490. For more information on CWD, go to www.CWD-info.org.
Any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this workshop/meeting is asked to advise the agency at least five days before the workshop/meeting by contacting the ADA coordinator at 850-488-6411. If you are hearing- or speech-impaired, please contact the agency using the Florida Relay Service, 800-955-8771 (TDD) or 800-955-8770 (voice).
The Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission came into existence on July 1, 1999 - the result of a constitutional amendment approved in the 1998 General Election as part of the package proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission.
In the implementation of the Constitutional Amendment, the Florida Legislature combined all of the staff and Commissioners of the former Marine Fisheries Commission, elements of the Divisions of Marine Resources and Law Enforcement of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and all of the employees and Commissioners of the former Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission.
Five years later, after consulting stakeholders, employees and other interested parties, the FWC adopted a new internal structure to address complex conservation issues of the new century. The new structure focuses on programs, such as habitat management, that affect numerous species. It will focus on moving the decision-making process closer to the public and did not require any additional funding or additional positions.
