Trump Administration Orders National Parks Managers to Ease Hunting Restrictions Across 55 Sites

President Donald Trump’s administration is pushing national park, refuge and wilderness area managers to scale back hunting restrictions, and U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order in January directing multiple agencies to remove what he termed “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing.

“You Browser Working London Working www”

AsatuNews.co.id

Burgum wrote that “public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies,” setting the policy framework for the changes.

PBS

The order applies to 55 sites in the lower 48 states under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.

The NPCA review said managers at various locations had already lifted prohibitions on hunting stands that damage trees and training hunting dogs, using vehicles to retrieve animals and hunting along trails.

The New York Times was the first to report on the changes, and the hunting season in the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts would be extended through the spring and summer under the new approach.

Dan Wenk, a former Yellowstone National Park superintendent and NPS deputy operations director, said park managers established their regulations by talking with stakeholders and that “Process never seems to stand in the way of many things with this administration.”

Wenk told the Associated Press that “This was never a big issue. I’d love to know the problem we’re trying to solve,” linking his criticism to the lack of substantial public discussion.

The Times of India

Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace said in an email that the order is a “commonsense approach to public land management” and promised that any closures or limits needed for public safety, resource protection or legal compliance will remain in place.

Peace argued that “For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest stewards of our public lands,” and said the order ensures their access is not unnecessarily restricted by outdated or overly broad limitations not required by law.

Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership posted a statement online in January calling the order a balance between wildlife management and outdoor traditions hunters and anglers support, while Ducks Unlimited posted a statement in March saying Burgum’s order recognizes duck hunters’ “vital role.”

The changes described by the National Parks Conservation Association include specific examples such as hunters in the Lake Meredith National Recreation Area in Texas being allowed to clean their kills in bathrooms.

“The Trump administration is pushing to expand hunting and fishing access across national parks, wildlife refuges and wilderness areas by rolling back several existing restrictions on federal land”

The Times of India

In Louisiana, the order would allow hunters to kill alligators in the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, according to the Associated Press reporting carried by PBS.

The order also comes as hunting participation declines, with only about 4.2% of the U.S. population identified as a hunter older than 16 in 2024, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Census data.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership said the order is a balance between wildlife management and outdoor traditions, and Ducks Unlimited said Burgum’s order recognizes duck hunters’ “vital role.”

Elaine Leslie, former head of the NPS’ biological resources department, criticized the move in a text to the AP by saying, “I don't want to take my young grandchildren to a park unit only to have a hunter drag a gutted elk they shot across a visitor center parking lot.”