By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Hunting and fishing, and other outdoor recreation on public lands, may be in trouble due to “politicized environmental efforts,” according to a report at Fox News, which points at “rules coming down from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.”
“The Biden administration has repeatedly prioritized policies critics argue are politicized environmental efforts which will make conservation and recreational activities on public lands more difficult,” Fox News is reporting.
Earlier this summer, Fox News’ Thomas Catenacci reported how the Biden administration is “moving ahead with prohibitions on the type of equipment hunters are allowed to use on federal refuges.” Outdoor groups have been raising alarms about this, and the president has done nothing to calm anyone’s fears.
Very little noise is being made outside of the hunting community. As reported in June, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) announced its hunting and fishing rule for 2023-2024, which seeks to ban lead ammunition across eight wildlife refuges by 2026. Those refuges are Blackwater, Chincoteague, Eastern Neck, Erie, Great Thicket, Patuxent Research Refuge, Rachel Carson, and Wallops Island NWRs.
AS noted in the Fox coverage, “eco groups” support the ban, but hunters contend this constitutes a “backdoor attack” on hunting.
The report quotes Gabriella Hoffman, identified as a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum’s Center for Energy and Conservation. She contends the federal government is “trying to redefine conservationism through its newly proposed Public Lands Rule, resulting in decreased access to public lands.”
Each year, tens of millions of sportsmen and women take the field—much of it on federal public land such as refuges, national forests, and BLM lands—and this agenda is not friendly to their pursuits.
Traditional ammunition phase-out could become a major problem for hunters, as substitutes (i.e. lead-free bullets made with copper such as those produced by various companies) become more in demand, and thus, more expensive. However, such projectiles are known to be accurate and are capable of humanely taking down a game animal.
The Fox report also quotes Luke Hilgeman, executive director at the International Order of T. Roosevelt, who echoes concerns expressed by others that phasing out lead ammunition on many public lands “would cause millions of acres of previously open public hunting land to become much less accessible.”
He said the effort is a “maneuver” by the Biden administration to ratchet down on hunting.
Hunters and hunting organizations universally maintain they are genuine conservationists. After all, groups such as Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Mule Deer Foundation, Pheasants Forever, the Ruffed Grouse Society and others have raised and spent millions of dollars to improve and acquire game habitat, which also benefits non-game species. These groups work with state fish and wildlife agencies on projects to protect and enhance game populations.
