Trump is lifting restrictions on hunting in national parks, refuges and wilderness areas

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is quietly pressuring national park, refuge and wilderness area managers to significantly reduce hunting restrictions, raising questions about visitor safety and the impact on wildlife.

U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order in January directing multiple agencies to remove “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing and justify the regulations they want to keep in place.

“Expanding the public’s opportunities 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 outdoors,” Burgum wrote. “The department’s policy is clear: publicly owned and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented and legally supported exception applies.”

Order paves the way for tree plantings, dog training and more

The order applies to 55 counties in 48 states under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, according to the National Parks Conservation Association. Managers at several locations have already lifted bans on tree-damaging hunting stands and training hounds, driving to retrieve animals and hunting on trails, according to a review of NPCA field regulations the organization conducted recently after learning of the order. The New York Times was the first to report the changes.

For example, the hunting season at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts would be extended through the spring and summer. Hunters at Lake Meredith National Recreation Area in Texas will be allowed to clean their kills in bathrooms. Hunters will be allowed to kill alligators at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana.

An effort to save hunting?

Burgum’s order comes as hunting continues to decline in the face of increasing urbanization. According to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Census data, only 4.2% of the U.S. population identifies as a hunter over the age of 16 in 2024; This leaves state wildlife agencies short on revenue from license sales and excise taxes on guns and ammunition.

Hunting advocates and conservative policymakers are exploring many ways to keep hunting alive, including promoting the sport to women and young children, creating seasons for more species and expanding hunters’ access to public lands.

Hunting currently allowed According to the NPS website, across nearly 51 million National Park Service acres covering 76 areas, although only 8 million acres are in the contiguous United States, the rest in Alaska. Fishing is allowed in 213 regions. NPS sites generally follow state hunting and fishing regulations; but they may also impose restrictions that go beyond these, such as banning shooting along trails or near buildings, to protect public safety and wildlife resources.

‘I would like to know the problem we are trying to solve’

Dan Wenk, former superintendent of Yellowstone National Park and NPS deputy director of operations, said park managers create their regulations by talking to stakeholders, and as a result, most of the restrictions are widely accepted. He said it makes no sense for the Trump administration to overturn this structure without serious public debate.

“The process doesn’t seem to stand in the way of a lot of things with this administration,” Wenk said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “This was never a big problem. I wanted to know the problem we were trying to solve so I could understand the costs it would take to solve this problem in terms of resources and visitor safety.”

Interior Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Peace said in an email that the order is a “common-sense approach to public land management” and promised that any closures or restrictions necessary for public safety, resource conservation or legal compliance will remain in effect.

“For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest guardians of our public lands,” he said, “and this order ensures that their access is not unnecessarily restricted by outdated or overly broad restrictions that are not required by law.”

Asked in a follow-up email about the scope of public outreach efforts, if any, Peace said only that the department had provided the AP with its statement about the order.

Hunting groups applaud the order

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, which works to preserve access to hunting and fishing, published a statement online in January calling for a balance between the order’s wildlife management and the outdoor traditions that hunters and fishermen support. Ducks Unlimited released a statement in March saying Burgum’s order recognized the “vital role” of duck hunters.

“This process will streamline federal regulations, make them more consistent with existing state rules, and provide access to more public lands for outdoor recreation. Thank you for putting America’s hunters and anglers first, Secretary Burgum,” the statement said.

Elaine Leslie, former chief of NPS’s biological resources division, said Trump undermined a process put in place in good faith and that the order does not reflect science-based stewardship.

“I don’t want to take my young grandchildren to a park unit and have a hunter drag a gutted deer they hunted into the visitor center parking lot. I also don’t want them to go into a restroom where hunters clean their kills,” Leslie said in a text message to the AP. “There is a time and place for hunting, trapping and fishing… but that does not mean that every place should be open to every activity, especially at the expense of others and the degradation of our public resources.”

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Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.