President Donald Trump’s administration is quietly pushing to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions across national parks, refuges, and wilderness areas, raising questions about visitor safety and wildlife impact. This initiative follows a January order from U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, directing agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing, and to justify any regulations they wish to maintain. Burgum stated, “Expanding opportunities for the public to hunt and fish on Department-managed lands not only strengthens conservation outcomes, but also supports rural economies, public health, and access to America’s outdoor spaces.” He added, “The Department’s policy is clear: public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies.”
This occupation isn’t known for oversight nor competency. Expect any changes to be implemented in the worst possible way.
Oh absolutely, I have 0 faith in this administration to do this in any kind of remotely sensible way
But in general, with different people at the helm, I could really get behind more hunting opportunities in national parks as a conservation tool.
Really I’d like to see predators like wolves reintroduced, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon, and realistically for it to work in the parks around me that I have in mind for this we’d probably need to bulldoze and reforest huge swathes of suburbia to support those predators, so nothing that’s going to happen in a hurry, even if we somehow got the people living there to agree to move or eminent domained their properties (which isn’t going to happen) we’d probably be looking at years if not decades just to replant and regrow the forests.