Heading into hunting season, America's sportsmen and women have another significant development from the Trump administration worth celebrating. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) finalized the largest expansion of hunting, shooting, and fishing opportunities in history.
The new rule creates an 1,488 additional hunting and fishing opportunities across 32 states. Newly available for hunting are more than 92 million acres, mostly within the National Wildlife Refuge System, with 14 of those newly opened wildlife refuges offering hunting opportunities for the very first time. For NRA members and sportsmen nationwide, this is not only welcome news, but the fulfillment of an effort NRA-ILA has been following since the beginning.
This final rule delivers on a promise by the Trump administration that NRA-ILA reported on back in January. That promise has become a reality, and it is about far more than simply opening additional acreage for outdoor opportunities. This action importantly follows Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s Secretarial Order 3447 directing agencies to identify and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to hunting and fishing, expand opportunities where consistent with conservation efforts, and improve coordination with states.
As noted from DOI, “The Service is making more than 1,000 modifications to existing regulatory provisions, reducing complexity and making it easier for hunters and anglers to understand and comply with applicable rules.” That matters a lot. For far too long, sportsmen using federal lands have been forced to navigate a patchwork of confusing, overlapping, inconsistent, and sometimes unnecessary regulations that can vary among federal property and adjoining state-managed lands. Simplifying these guidelines not only expands access but recognizes the traditional role of states as the primary managers of wildlife resources.
Then, as NRA-ILA reported in May, DOI took a major step in announcing this rulemaking. The directives contained in the proposed rule were exciting prospects, and now with its finalization, the rule delivers an even stronger outcome for America’s hunters and anglers. As Secretary Burgum explained in announcing the final rule, the Administration is committed to continuing to increase access for hunters, while reducing regulatory burdens, recognizing that hunters and shooters are not an obstacle to conservation but rather its original and continuing champions.
These latest DOI changes represent more than just policy; they represent a change in philosophy that federally managed lands should be available for hunting and fishing unless specific documented and legally supported reasons require otherwise. Ultimately, public land means little to sportsmen if the public cannot meaningfully use it. These newly opened opportunities move federal policy in the right direction and amount to a no less than a historic victory for our hunting and shooting heritage in the United States.
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