2022-2023 Station-Specific Hunting and Sport Fishing Regulations

Resumo

Consistent with the steadfast commitment to access to our National Wildlife Refuges and continued efforts to provide hunting and fishing opportunities, we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to open, for the first time, two National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) that are currently closed to hunting and sport fishing. In addition, we propose to open or expand hunting or sport fishing at 17 other NWRs and add pertinent station-specific regulations for other NWRs that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, or sport fishing for the 2022-2023 season. We also propose to make changes to existing station-specific regulations in order to reduce the regulatory burden on the public, increase access for hunters and anglers on Service lands and waters, and comply with a Presidential mandate for plain language standards. Finally, the best available science, analyzed as part of this proposed rulemaking, indicates that lead ammunition and tackle may have negative impacts on both wildlife and human health, and that those impacts are more acute for some species. Therefore, while the Service continues to evaluate the future of lead use in hunting a