The Trump administration is quietly pushing managers of national parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas to dramatically roll back hunting and fishing restrictions, according to an Interior Department order obtained by the Associated Press. The January directive, issued by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, instructs agencies to remove “unnecessary regulatory or administrative barriers” to hunting and fishing and to justify any restrictions they seek to retain. The order applies to 55 sites managed by the National Park Service in the lower 48 states, covering millions of acres, and has already prompted site-level changes that in some cases lift long-standing prohibitions on tree stands, dog training, the use of vehicles to retrieve game, and hunting along trails.
In a written statement, Burgum said the policy would strengthen conservation and rural economies. “Expanding opportunities for the public 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 outdoor spaces,” he wrote. “The Department’s policy is clear: public and federally managed lands should be open to hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented, and legally supported exception applies.”
Among the changes identified by the National Parks Conservation Association, which reviewed site regulations after learning of the order, 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 would be allowed to clean their kills in bathrooms, and alligator hunting would be permitted at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana.
The rollback arrives as hunting participation continues to decline. Only about 4.2% of the U.S. population older than 16 identified as a hunter in 2024, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Census data, leaving state wildlife agencies with less revenue from license sales and excise taxes on guns and ammunition. Hunting advocates and conservative policymakers have promoted the sport to women and children, created seasons for more species, and pushed for wider public-land access to reverse the trend.
Critics argued the administration bypassed the stakeholder engagement that traditionally shaped such rules. Dan Wenk, a former Yellowstone National Park superintendent and deputy NPS operations director, questioned the problem the order was intended to solve.
“Process never seems to stand in the way of many things with this administration,” Wenk told the AP. “This was never a big issue. I’d love to know the problem we’re trying to solve. Then I could understand the costs that it’s going to take to solve it in terms of resources and visitor safety.”
Interior Department spokesperson Elizabeth Peace described the order as a “commonsense approach to public land management” and said that closures or limits needed for public safety, resource protection, or legal compliance would remain. “For decades, sportsmen and women have been some of the strongest stewards of our public lands,” she added, “and this order ensures their access is not unnecessarily restricted by outdated or overly broad limitations that are not required by law.” Asked about public outreach, she said only that the department had provided its statement.
Hunting groups welcomed the shift. The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership called the order a balance between wildlife management and outdoor traditions, while Ducks Unlimited posted a statement in March thanking Burgum for prioritizing hunters and anglers and noting the order would “streamline federal regulations, make them more consistent with existing state rules, and provide more public-land access for outdoor recreation.”
Elaine Leslie, former head of the NPS’s biological resources department, said the order undermines a science-based process and creates unacceptable conflicts for other park visitors.
“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. Nor enter a restroom where hunters are cleaning their game,” Leslie told the AP. “There is a time and place for hunting, trapping and fishing … but that doesn’t mean every place has to be open to every activity especially at the expense of others and degrading our public resources.”