The National Park Service is moving forward with Trump administration mandates to ease hunting restrictions on public lands. Officials with the U.S. Department of the Interior say 36 parks have removed 114 closures and hunting restrictions.
Tuesday’s announcement includes easing regulations on firing weapons near hiking trails, ending bans on processing game animals in public restrooms, and extending hunting seasons.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum says his original January order is part of a broader Trump administration effort to increase recreation on public lands. It mandates the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Wildlife Refuges and other agencies to remove what Burgum calls “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing.
“Expanding opportunities for the public to hunt and fish on Department-managed lands not only strengthens conservation outcomes, but also supports rural economies, public health, and access to America’s outdoor spaces.,” wrote Burgum in the order.
It also directs managers of wildlife refuges, national recreation areas, national parks, and other public lands, to justify any regulations they want to keep.
The Grand Canyon and other major national parks weren’t part of the order, though it could impact other recreation areas across the Southwest like Glen Canyon and Lake Mead national recreation areas along with Valles Caldera National Preserve in New Mexico and Great Sand Dunes National Preserve in Colorado.
Public lands advocacy groups say loosening restrictions without scientific review negatively impacts wildlife and may permanently transform public lands.
Earlier this month, the National Parks Conservation Association staff called the order “out of line with park values.
“In national parks, management decisions must start with public safety and natural resource conservation—not with what appears to be a highly questionable directive to remove what someone deems as barriers to hunting and trapping.”
