St. Lawrence County hunters are invited to submit recommendations for the dates of the Fall 2012 duck hunting seasons to the regional Waterfowl Hunter Task Force.

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will evaluate the task force recommendations in setting waterfowl seasons, which must comply with federal rules.

DEC recently appointed task forces for each zone to solicit recommendations, including opening and closing dates, split seasons and a special hunting weekend for youths. Each task force includes representatives from the New York State Conservation Council, established waterfowl hunting organizations and individual waterfowl hunters.

For fall, DEC expects the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service USFWS to allow a 60-day duck season, split into no more than two segments per zone, opening no earlier than Sep. 22, and closing no later than Jan. 27, 2013.

Waterfowl hunters can participate by providing duck season suggestions to any task force member by March 30.

Comments can be made by mail, telephone or e-mail. The task forces will meet in late March and April. DEC plans to announce tentative duck hunting season dates in June.

Input on hunting seasons for other migratory game birds, including Canada geese, snow geese, brant and woodcock, may be submitted also to any member of DEC’s season-setting team. However, due to greater uncertainty about federal regulations for those species, decisions and tentative dates will probably not be known until later in the summer.

Names and contact information for all task force members are listed in alphabetical order on the DEC website at http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/42364.html.