Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed an order Friday to expand hunting and fishing on public lands, parks, and monuments while enhancing conservation and wildlife management.
“Today’s secretarial order is the latest example of how the Trump administration is actively moving to support hunting and other forms of outdoor recreation on public lands,” Zinke said. “This means finding ways to expand hunting and fishing on public lands, improving access, and taking necessary actions to facilitate the enjoyment of these time-honored activities by any member of our society.”
The order was signed just days after the Fish and Wildlife Service released results of a survey that found 2.2 million fewer hunters in the U.S. now than in 2011.
The department’s announcement on Zinke’s order included a statement from the National Rifle Association applauding the order. Supportive statements from conservation groups such as the National Wildlife Federation were also included.
“In the past, management plans for federal lands have been put in place to ban hunting and shooting,” said Chris Cox, executive director of the National Rifle Association. “Sportsmen and women can now breathe a sigh of relief that those days are over. This administration values access to public lands for sportsmen and we commend them for it.”
Soon after the order’s release, environmental groups began criticizing the action as a public relations stunt meant to distract the public from the administration’s efforts to expand hydraulic fracturing, mining, and other activities on public lands.
“This is a PR stunt intended to distract from the fact that the Trump administration is accelerating logging, fracking, mining and livestock grazing that damage public lands and destroy crucial wildlife habitat,” said Randi Spivak, public lands director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Don’t be fooled by Zinke’s secretarial order and his Teddy Roosevelt references,” said Spivak.”What’s best for those who hunt and fish on America’s public lands is protecting and restoring wildlife habitat.”
Zinke called hunting and fishing “a cornerstone of the American tradition” and said hunters and fishers “are the backbone of land and wildlife conservation.”
The Friday order extends a directive he signed on his first day as secretary on March 2. “That order identified a slate of actions for the restoration of the American sportsmen conservation ethic, which was established by President Theodore Roosevelt,” the agency said.
The order also places new emphasis on “recruiting and retaining new sportsmen conservationists, with a focus on engaging youths, veterans, minorities and other communities that traditionally have low participation in outdoor recreation activities,” the agency said.
In addition, the order calls for expanding hunting and fishing at national monuments by amending existing management plans to “ensure the public’s right to hunt, fish and target shoot” at monuments, the agency said.
It also requires the creation of a plan to be delivered in 120 days to expand access to hunters on land managed by the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
New educational outreach programs will be established to reach out “underrepresented communities such as veterans, minorities and youth,” according to the agency.
