Starting Sept. 2, America’s hunters and anglers will have access to an additional 87,000 acres of federal land managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Pro-hunting and conservation groups are already cheering the move, which the Department of the Interior announced Wednesday.
The DOI says the final rule approved Aug. 28 will open or expand hunting and fishing opportunities at 16 national wildlife refuges (as well as one national fish hatchery) across 11 different states: Alabama, California, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington. Click here for a complete list of the affected refuges.
“We are pleased to offer these new hunting and fishing opportunities that are compatible with our conservation mission,” newly-appointed USFWS director Brian Nesvik said of the move. “These refuges and hatcheries provide incredible opportunities for sportsmen and sportswomen and their families across the country to pass on a fishing and hunting heritage to future generations.”
Two of those federal properties, the Southern Maryland Woodlands NWR and California’s Grasslands Wildlife Management Area, will open to hunting formally for the first time as a result of the expansion. The DOI didn’t specify what those new hunting opportunities would look like, although both areas contain a substantial amount of waterfowl habitat. The agency says these new regulations will go into effect on Tuesday for the upcoming 2025-2026 hunting season.
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As reported by E&E News, however, there will be no changes around lead ammunition rules as part of the expansion. (Lead shot remains prohibited while hunting waterfowl on all NWR’s nationwide.) Phasing out lead ammo and tackle on USFWS-managed lands while expanding hunting and fishing access at these locations has been a strategy under previous presidential administrations, and one that hook-and-bullet groups have roundly opposed.
The federal government is mandated to expand hunting and fishing opportunities where possible, thanks to the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997. The DOI noted in its announcement that this expansion “triples the number of opportunities and quintuples the number of units open or expanded” under the Biden administration. At that time, then Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland claimed that the DOI had opened and expanded more USFWS acreage to hunting and fishing “than ever before.”
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