opening more refuges to hunting.....

[Khunter]

Good news.


INTERIOR
Feds plan to open more wildlife refuges to hunting
Michael Doyle, E&E News reporter Published: Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Hunters at Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. Ryan Hagerty/Fish and Wildlife Service/Flickr

The Fish and Wildlife Service today proposed opening for the first time eight additional national wildlife refuges to hunting and fishing.

As part of the same effort, FWS wants to open or expand existing hunting and sport fishing at 89 other refuges and on nine units of the National Fish Hatchery System.

All told, about 2.3 million additional acres would be opened for hunting and fishing in what FWS calls the single largest expansion of its kind in agency history.

"America's hunters and anglers now have something significant to look forward to in the fall as we plan to open and expand hunting and fishing opportunities across more acreage nationwide than the entire state of Delaware," Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a statement.

Although a relatively routine administrative matter that rolls around every year, the "Station-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations" have become for the Trump administration a high-profile way of catering to the hook-and-bullet crowd.

Last year, the agency opened or expanded new hunting or sport fishing opportunities on over 1.4 million acres at 92 refuges and hatcheries nationwide (Greenwire, Aug. 30, 2019).

Today's proposal would bring the number of units in the National Wildlife Refuge System that allow hunting to 399 and the number where fishing is permitted to 331.

"Once the Trump administration's effort to eliminate the threat of COVID-19 has been successful, there will be no better way to celebrate than to get out and enjoy increased access for hunting and fishing on our public lands," FWS Director Aurelia Skipwith said in a statement.

The proposal will be published tomorrow in the Federal Registerand open for a 60-day public comment period.

Last year's proposal drew 930 comments, offering mixed opinions on the idea of more hunting.

"The [proposal] would open up significant swaths of public land to the hunting of species that are critical to the health of their ecosystems, such as bears, coyotes, bobcats, and potentially wolves, and to controversial and environmentally destructive methods such as trapping and hounding," the Humane Society of the United States wrote last year.

Today, Safari Club International CEO W. Laird Hamberlin called hunting and fishing "an integral part of our nation's culture, economy and care for the land." He said that "increasing access and opportunities for people to take part in our sporting heritage strengthens broader conservation efforts."

The new proposal includes the opening of migratory bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting and sport fishing at the Everglades Headwaters National Wildlife Refuge in Florida for the first time.

The Bamforth National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming would also be open to upland game and big game hunting for the first time, while sport fishing could begin at Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia, among other changes

 

[3855WIN]

Sounds good. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Irrelevant]

E&E is a great source, I need to pay more attention to them.

 

[3855WIN]

If the President had a D by his name, this thread would be blowing up. Come on hunttalkers, this is a win for us. Let’s celebrate.

 

[wytex]

Not sure but think Bamforth came up before and folks around here went crazy about letting hunting happen. They seem to think the birds would be affected by upland and big game hunting.
We have a refuge for the Wyoming toad that would provide great pronghorn hunting if opened, the toads only use the lower wetter areas.

 

[SAJ-99]

I thinks it is a positive, but the devil will be in the details. There are a lot of refuges that allow hunting now. Some refuges need to stay refuges for the overall health of the resource.

 

[Ben Lamb]

If the President had a D by his name, this thread would be blowing up. Come on hunttalkers, this is a win for us. Let’s celebrate.

I think that's a fair criticism. So I'll say that this is a pretty good move by DOI and one that, so long as it's done sustainable & with thought of the resource first, and opportunity second, is a great thing to continue on the track record first established by President George W. Bush, expanded under President Obama, and continued through this administration.

I think another fair criticism would be that this is an expansion of hunting opportunity about 1/10 of the acreage we've lost in terms of habitat management because of leasing, etc. Unimproved public lands - the places the vast majority of us hunt in the west, and increasingly being neglected in terms of management for wildlife values due to fire-sale leasing. Once land is leased, all other activities take a back seat to ensuring leaseholders have the ability to drill quickly. A good example of this is the administration's attempts to rollback habitat improvement on over 60 million acres of public land that were to be implemented through the Sage Grouse EIS' of 2015, which had broad bi-partisan support.

That's not to say that Dems were all that in terms of public land management, and it's also not to say that this DOI hasn't done some good things for hunters in terms of opportunity, it simply recognizes that for this one small step forward, there have been several large steps backwards, so it's tough to get excited about opening up the last strongholds of wildlife for harvest, rather than focusing on the larger management picture.

 

[BigHornRam]

Doomberg spin right on que.

Interior Plans Largest Hunting Expansion After Virus Over

The Interior Department is proposing to let hunters and anglers kill more migratory birds and other animals in wildlife refuges—an opportunity to “celebrate” victory over the coronavirus pandemic in the fall, Interior officials said Wednesday.

news.bloomberglaw.com

 

[bigsky2]

Not saying this isn't something to be excited about, I know nothing about this refuge. Here in Montana they opened the CMR Refuge to mule deer hunting in November, some were thrilled about it and others weren't. I personally liked to see the mule deer bucks get a break during the rut.

 

[R.K.]

I'm hesitant to call it a win- I have concerns that this was a move to gain more popularity with voters without any concern for the health of the resource. The health of the resource, balanced with good opportunity to maintain hunting license revenue for wildlife conservation and management, should be the primary deciding factor in these sorts of decisions.

I'm neither D nor R- neither party fully represents me or serves my interests. Haven't liked the last two presidents, but I've been more disappointed but the congresses than presidents.

 

[BuzzH]

If the President had a D by his name, this thread would be blowing up. Come on hunttalkers, this is a win for us. Let’s celebrate.

Not true...I have reservations about this as well regarding the one refuge mentioned that is really close to Laramie.

I don't have a problem with opening it up to hunting but it has to be controlled, tightly controlled. Its in a place with very tough access for any type of hunting, vast majority of the surrounding area is all private.

In other words, going to be very easy to get "loved to death"...

But, to say the hesitancy to just start cheering from the rooftops is political...not buying it.

 

[JLS]

I think that's a fair criticism. So I'll say that this is a pretty good move by DOI and one that, so long as it's done sustainable & with thought of the resource first, and opportunity second, is a great thing to continue on the track record first established by President George W. Bush, expanded under President Obama, and continued through this administration.

I think another fair criticism would be that this is an expansion of hunting opportunity about 1/10 of the acreage we've lost in terms of habitat management because of leasing, etc. Unimproved public lands - the places the vast majority of us hunt in the west, and increasingly being neglected in terms of management for wildlife values due to fire-sale leasing. Once land is leased, all other activities take a back seat to ensuring leaseholders have the ability to drill quickly. A good example of this is the administration's attempts to rollback habitat improvement on over 60 million acres of public land that were to be implemented through the Sage Grouse EIS' of 2015, which had broad bi-partisan support.

That's not to say that Dems were all that in terms of public land management, and it's also not to say that this DOI hasn't done some good things for hunters in terms of opportunity, it simply recognizes that for this one small step forward, there have been several large steps backwards, so it's tough to get excited about opening up the last strongholds of wildlife for harvest, rather than focusing on the larger management picture.

Damned pragmatists.....

 

[rwc101]

Whatever happens, I hope Hutton Lake doesn't become a crowded duck shooting gallery like you see on some WMA/SWA type areas. I guess a few more below average pronghorn will be shot around Laramie as well.

 

[Irrelevant]

Local news reported as part of this they're opening up the Leavenworth Fish hatchery property for hunting. It's 150 ish acres surrounded by million dollar homes and the Sleeping lady resort (formerly owned and still operated by Bullitt foundation, semi anti-hunting). There is really is very little of any game (outside of a few town deer) on this property as there is a very active hiking/biking/running/x-country skiing trails that bisect all of the property. It won't end well if they actually try to initiate a hunt here.

 

[3855WIN]

Local news reported as part of this they're opening up the Leavenworth Fish hatchery property for hunting. It's 150 ish acres surrounded by million dollar homes and the Sleeping lady resort (formerly owned and still operated by Bullitt foundation, semi anti-hunting). There is really is very little of any game (outside of a few town deer) on this property as there is a very active hiking/biking/running/x-country skiing trails that bisect all of the property. It won't end well if they actually try to initiate a hunt here.

There are plenty of city parks that have hunting programs. If there is very little game, there will be very little hunting.

 

[Irrelevant]

There are plenty of city parks that have hunting programs. If there is very little game, there will be very little hunting.

HA! you don't live in WA.

 

[mdhunter]

I love people that take positives and then try to spin them into negatives...

 

[joelweb]

I think this is a good move, and I think what this administration has done to align state and federal regulations on wildlife refuges is positive.

 

[Trial153]

As a group(hunters) we often criticize(many times rightly so) symbolism over substance, but when our turkey is stolen and the thief gives us back the neck, we brag about how good the soup will be.

 

[BuzzH]

I think this is a good move, and I think a lot of what this adminsitration has done to align state and federal regualtions on wildlfie refuges is positive.

Unless you're a buck mule deer on the CMR in November...