USFWS Expands Fishing, Hunting Opportunities On Wildlife Refuges

The U.S. Department of Interior’s (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is allowing more fishing and hunting opportunities on federal wildlife refuges around the country. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced FWS had finalized a rule allowing new hunting and fishing on 30 additional national wildlife refuges in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wisconsin. With this expansion, the Trump administration is opening or expanding an additional 251,000 acres to hunting and sport fishing, which DOI says will yield millions of dollars in additional recreation-related spending. Under federal law, national wildlife refuges in all states are protected from recreational use to protect and conserve threatened fish and wildlife. But, under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, the Service permits hunting and fishing along with four other types of wildlife-dependent recreation, including wildlife photography, environmental education, wildlife observation, and interpretation, when they are compatible with an individual refuge’s purpose and mission...MORE

I'm still waiting on the Seretarial Order to open up vacant allotments to additional livestock grazing.