President Donald Trump signed an executive order expanding hunting, fishing and recreational access on federal lands while directing agencies to permit traditional lead ammunition and tackle, improve access to landlocked parcels and streamline regulations affecting hunters.

By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing federal agencies to expand hunting, fishing and recreational opportunities on public lands while reversing or revising regulations the administration says have unnecessarily restricted access for sportsmen.

The Sept. 17 order establishes a general policy favoring accessibility on federally managed lands and directs several Cabinet departments to review restrictions affecting hunting, fishing, shooting and other outdoor recreation. It follows a separate August action that substantially expanded hunting and fishing opportunities across the National Wildlife Refuge System.

According to a White House fact sheet, the order directs the secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, War and Commerce to propose changes within 180 days to policies or regulations that limit access to lands under their jurisdictions, subject to existing law. National parks are generally excluded from that directive.

Among the most significant provisions is a directive to improve public access to federal lands and waters that are difficult to reach because they are surrounded by private property or fragmented by alternating ownership.

The administration instructed agencies to pursue voluntary access easements, land exchanges, agreements with state and local governments and other arrangements intended to open so-called checkerboarded or landlocked parcels while respecting private property rights.

The order also calls for federal agencies to generally allow hunting unless officials can justify a particular closure based on local resource conditions. It directs agencies to consider the construction, repair and maintenance of infrastructure needed to reach federal lands for recreation and wildlife management.

Another provision instructs the agencies to permit traditional lead ammunition and fishing tackle on lands within their jurisdictions. The White House described the action as reversing restrictions it says had increasingly limited those products.

The administration characterized the changes as part of a broader effort to reverse what it considers excessive federal regulation of outdoor recreation.

“Due to years of overregulation by other administrations, until President Trump’s actions, accessing hunting had never been more difficult. Hunting opportunities in the United States have declined due to Federal regulatory overreach, confusing and inconsistent policies, and heavy-handed restrictions. America’s hunting heritage must be reinvigorated, protected, and expanded to benefit Americans.”

That characterization reflects the administration’s stated rationale for the executive order. The order declares it federal policy to “reinvigorate, protect, and expand” hunting and applies what it calls a presumption of accessibility to federally managed lands.

The directive also specifically addresses two national monuments.

Within 90 days, the Interior Department is instructed to allow hunting of species not protected under the Endangered Species Act within Castle Mountains National Monument in California and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve in Idaho. Trump stated in the order that appropriately managed hunting would not threaten the historic and scientific resources those monuments were created to protect.

Migratory bird hunting is another focus.

The Interior Department has 90 days to propose regulatory changes intended to improve the process for authorizing seasonal migratory game bird hunting. The executive order directs officials to continue working with Flyway Councils and consider annual wildlife surveys, existing guidance and historical practices when setting seasons.

Within one year, Interior is also directed to encourage state fish and wildlife agencies to promote and expand Sunday hunting opportunities on state and federal lands.

The order reaches beyond hunting regulations to access and participation.

The Agriculture Department must review high-demand Forest Service river-access lotteries and begin reforms intended to prioritize U.S. citizens, including applicants who previously entered but were unsuccessful. The administration also directed the department to prohibit automated computer entries into those lotteries.

The Labor and Education departments are instructed to clarify whether federal education funding can be used for school archery and hunter-education programs. Interior is directed to identify incentives for increasing hunting participation among young people and veterans, while the Department of Veterans Affairs is instructed to prioritize eligible grants supporting hunting and fishing through its Adaptive Sports Grant Program.

Federal agencies are additionally directed to work with states on managing game populations through habitat improvements, invasive-species reduction, disease control, prescribed fire, vegetation management, grazing and other measures.

The order also calls for the targeted management of predators and competing species when they are considered factors limiting game populations.

The Agriculture and Interior departments are further directed to support programs that donate harvested wild game, including venison, to schools, food banks and the Emergency Food Assistance Program.

Thursday’s executive order follows an earlier expansion that made more than 92 million acres within the National Wildlife Refuge System available for hunting or sport fishing.

As The Hill reported, the August action covered 32 states. The Interior Department said the final rule created 1,488 new hunting and sport-fishing opportunities at 111 wildlife refuges and fish hatcheries. More than 95% of National Wildlife Refuge System lands are now available for hunting or fishing, according to the agency.

Wildlife advocates have objected to portions of Trump’s latest order, particularly its treatment of lead ammunition and fishing tackle and its potential effect on predators.

Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the United States, raised concerns about the directive, arguing that implementation could affect wildlife management and exposure to lead on public lands.

“The order raises serious concerns about how wildlife on public lands, which belong to all Americans, will be managed, including whether decisions will continue to prioritize science-based conservation and the health of wildlife and their habitats.”

The organization noted that the executive order does not itself repeal the nationwide requirement for nontoxic shot used in waterfowl hunting, which has existed since 1991, but said questions remain about which other federal restrictions involving lead could be affected as agencies implement the directive.

The administration takes a different view, describing hunters and anglers as important contributors to wildlife conservation and arguing that federal land management should provide greater recreational access while coordinating more closely with states.

The executive order does not immediately eliminate every existing restriction. Instead, it establishes deadlines ranging from 60 days to one year for agencies to review rules, propose changes and implement specific initiatives consistent with existing federal law and available funding.

Its broader effect is to direct federal land-management policy toward greater hunting and fishing access, easier entry to difficult-to-reach public lands, expanded use of traditional ammunition and tackle, and increased state involvement in managing hunting opportunities and game populations.

Original article