Trump Moves To Open National Parks, Other Federal Lands, To More Hunting

The Trump administration has moved to open more National Park Service land to hunting, but that does not mean fluorescent orange vests and rifle shots will light up Yellowstone National Park this fall. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s Order No. 3477, issued in January, calls upon the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other agencies to “identify and remove unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers to hunting and fishing on Department-managed lands and waters.”

However, there will likely be little if any change in Wyoming’s crown jewel national parks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, officials told Cowboy State Daily. Rob Wallace, who served as assistant secretary for the Interior during the first Trump administration, said the backlash amounts to a “tempest in a teapot.” A similar measure was carried out with little fanfare during Trump’s first term.

There is already some limited big game hunting in Grand Teton and adjacent to Yellowstone. For years, the NPS and Wyoming Game and Fish have coordinated elk reduction hunts in segments of Grand Teton included in a 1950 expansion of park boundaries. Limited hunting also occurs near the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway between Grand Teton and Yellowstone, and hunting has always been allowed in the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area near Lovell.

Grand Teton spokeswoman Emily Davis said there was no word of any changes to existing regulations, nor any indication of expanded hunting. The NPS said Burgum’s order “advances a commonsense approach to public land management by expanding access to hunting and fishing opportunities where it can be done safely and responsibly.”

Retired Forest Service and Park Service ranger Richard Jones said many national parks are amid other federal and state lands, and hunting is typically banned within parks but allowed on adjacent lands, which can be “terribly confusing to the public.” He does not think Burgum’s order will change much in Grand Teton, Yellowstone, or Bighorn Canyon, noting that most “prime hunting areas” in northwest Wyoming are on National Forest land, which is under the Department of Agriculture and unaffected by the order.

Stephanie Adams of the National Parks Conservation Association said there is uncertainty about whether the order will result in long-term changes. She questioned the “top-down” approach, noting that superintendents have “very thoughtfully put things in place to make sure there isn’t a conflict between hunters and hikers.”

Wallace said that during his tenure, roughly 4 million additional acres of Interior lands were opened for fishing and hunting, mostly on wildlife refuges. He noted that hunting in Yellowstone is forbidden by law, and an executive order cannot change that; Congress would have to act. “There’s nothing in the works to do that,” he said.