The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has opened or expanded hunting and fishing opportunities across 2.1 million acres of public land, the Department of the Interior stated in a press release.
The expansion increases available hunting and fishing locations to 910 and represents the largest expansion of outdoor recreation opportunities in recent history.
“Today’s announcement furthers a rich tradition of providing quality outdoor recreation experiences to the American people on our public lands,” Martha Williams, USFWS principal deputy director said. “By expanding these opportunities, we are enhancing the lives of millions of Americans while stimulating the national economy to which hunting and fishing contribute significantly.”
This expansion is in line with the Biden-Harris administration’s 'America the Beautiful' national initiative to conserve, connect, and restore 30% of the nation's lands and waters by 2030.
The final rule also advances efforts to align hunting and fishing regulations with each refuge's respective state regulations and the F & WS worked closely with the respective states in preparing the rule, the service stated in the release.
The expansion also includes revisions that ensure whenever refuge regulations depart from state regulations, for safety or conservation compatibility reasons, additional regulations are in place that are consistent across all refuges in the given state, the F & WS stated.
According to the 2016 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation, hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation activities contributed over $150 billion in overall economic activity for the U.S. in 2016. The survey is published every five years.
