Rule Change : Bernhardt Plan to Increase Hunting on National Wildlife Refuges

Position: Oppose Status: Secretary of Interior

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to expand hunting on more than 2.3 million acres of public recreation land throughout the country by proposing to expand hunting on National Wildlife Refuges.

Update

June 3, 2020

Comments are accepted until June 8, 2020

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt is continuing the Trump administration’s efforts to expand hunting on more than 2.3 million acres of public recreation land throughout the country by proposing to expand hunting on National Wildlife Refuges.

This proposed rule change, which has no stated benefit to the birds or animals on the refuges, could be seen as a gift to the National Rifle Association (which donated $30 million to Mr. Trump’s elections) and to the Safari Club International, (SCI). SCI is an organization favored by Donald Trump, Jr., and a client of Secretary Bernhardt’s former firm Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, and Schreck, LLP. Both the NRA and SCI promote hunting, including hunting on land owned by the public.

Secretary Bernhardt claims the expansion is needed to provide those who hunt and fish with “something significant to look forward to in the fall as we plan to open and expand hunting and fishing opportunities across more acreage nationwide than the entire state of Delaware.”

No one, including Secretary Bernhardt, has claimed the expansion is necessary to the well being of the animals or birds and no one has proposed plans to make hikers, campers, and birders safe during hunting season.

An estimated 16 million people in the U.S. are hunters, only of which 2.4 million hunt migratory birds. That number is dwarfed by the 60 million people in the U.S. who are bird watchers.

Secretary Bernhardt and the Trump administration appear to have no plans to study how the increased hunting will impact the wildlife or the people who visit the refuges. Nor do they have any plans to protect people who will be visiting National Wildlife Refuges during hunting season.

If you visit or live near National Wildlife Refuges your opportunity to enjoy the birds and animals in a refuge set aside for the protection of those animals will be endangered in an attempt to placate private businesses. You will need to curtail plans to hike, bird watch, or enjoy the public lands we all own to accommodate the wishes of the firearm-hunting industrial complex.

These are protected, public lands belonging to all Americans. The attempt to reduce hiking, bird watching, and other activities to expand hunting is unnecessary and puts millions of Americans at an increased risk of being unintentionally shot.

The public has until June 8, 2020 to submit comments to the federal website (docket number FWS-HQ-NWRS-2020-0013). Comments to the federal site may be made here.

Sample comment: “I oppose the expansion of hunting in our National Wildlife Refuges. The proposed plan caters to a very small group of constituents with concerning ties to Secretary Bernhardt. I value our National Wildlife Refuges and enjoy visiting without the added risk of being unintentionally shot or seeing a decrease in the wildlife as a result of hunting.”