LUFKIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission will conduct a regional public hearing in Lufkin on Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. to entertain comments and input on topics related to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department business. The open meeting is being held in conjunction with the Commission’s business meetings here Nov. 1-2.

A Commission work session is scheduled for 9 a.m., Nov. 1, and action items will be taken up consideration during the board’s Nov. 2 public meeting, beginning at 9 a.m. The meetings will be held at the Pitser Garrison Convention Center, Lufkin Room, 601 N. Second St., Lufkin.

A complete agenda is available on the TPWD web site.

During Wednesday’s work session, TPWD staff will brief commissioners on potential revisions to the state’s hunting and fishing regulations, as well as provide an update on impacts from Hurricane Harvey.

Among items to be considered for rulemaking include the establishment of coastal management areas. The department has acquired or is in the process of acquiring several tracts of land along the Texas coast. The primary intent of the acquisitions is to conserve and protect open space coastal habitat for ecological benefit, but the department has also determined that these areas can provide public recreational enjoyment consistent with sound ecological management. Therefore, the department is creating a new class of wildlife management area to be called a Coastal Management Area (CMA). At least initially, the CMAs established under the proposed new rules will be limited to unsupervised primitive use activities; thus the proposed new rules create the first two CMAs, establish rules of conduct for public use of CMAs, and provide penalties for violations of the rules.