There are concerns that the Trump administration will order the National Park Service to relax some of its hunting and fishing regulations/NPS file

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials, at the direction of Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, are moving to open seven of their refuges to hunting and fishing, a move spurring concern that National Park System units could be ordered to move in the same direction.

It was just about a year ago that then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke directed the agencies under his purview to defer wildlife and fisheries matters to states. If the Fish and Wildlife Service, or the National Park Service, had more stringent regs than those of the states in which they were located, he said, they should relax their regulations.

In issuing that directive, Zinke said he was reaffirming a 1983 policy that gave states the authority "to exercise their broad trustee and police powers as stewards of the Nation's fish and wildlife species on public lands and waters under the jurisdiction of the Department."

Zinke then gave his agencies 45 days to report back with lists "of all regulations, policies, and guidance that pertains to the conservation and management of fish and wildlife species on lands and waters under their jurisdiction that are more restrictive than otherwise applicable State provisions..."

The issue resurfaced in late June, when Fish and Wildlife Service officials issued a proposed rule "to open seven National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) that are currently closed to hunting and sport fishing."

Additionally, the rule calls for:

* Expanding hunting and sport fishing at 67 other NWRs, "and add pertinent station-specific regulations for other NWRs that pertain to migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing for the 2019-2020 season";

* Opening 15 units of the National Fish Hatchery System to hunting and sport fishing;

* Amending "certain provisions of the regulations specific to Alaska NWRs. The proposed amendments include the removal of the regulations concerning same-day airborne hunting."

Public comment on the proposal is being taken through August 12.

National Park Service officials back in October 2018 replied to Zinke's request for a list of hunting and fishing regulations more stringent than those in states, saying there were 19 units of the park system that had more stringent hunting regulations, and that 32 units had more restrictive fishing regulations.

At Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, officials are concerned that Interior Secretary Bernhardt will direct the Park Service to ease its hunting and fishing regulations down to state levels where appropriate.

“National parks should not be reduced to game farms,” said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, noting that state game rules are often designed to maximize state license revenue rather than protect wildlife populations.  “The emerging pattern is (President) Trump keeping federal lands while divesting federal management of those lands.”

According to PEER's review of the Park Service hunting and fishing regulations, among the reasons some park regulations are more stringent than the state's is to prevent gunshot accidents near visitor centers and other high traffic sites in the parks; to prevent the introduction and spread of invasive species that might arrive through the use of live baits, and; to protect wildlife from "unsporting or excessive practices, such as hunting with dog packs on islands, baiting of bears and other wildlife, and use of certain traps."

There could be other issues if the Park Service is forced to relax its hunting and fishing regulations.

* Yellowstone National Park's management of bison has created conflicts with Montana, where bison hunts are permitted;

* In Denali, Katmai, Wrangell-St. Elias and other units in Alaska, the state has worked at times to reduce predators such as wolves to reduce their predation on moose and caribou.

Before he resigned at the end of 2018, Zinke had pushed the Park Service to relax its hunting and trapping guidelines on national preserves in Alaska to bring them in line with state regulations.

Interior's move, if it extends to the Park Service, would seem to conflict with the National Park Service Organic Act of 1916, which  directs the National Park Service to "conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein..."

Mike Murray, who spent decades working for the Park Service and now is a member of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks, said there was no sound rationale for altering Park Service hunting or fishing regulations that currently prohibit activities which are clearly in conflict with NPS policies.

"In our experience, the longstanding practice of NPS restricting or prohibiting conflicting hunting practices allowed by a state is consistent with applicable NPS statutes and regulations," he said Saturday. "It is a rational approach based on the special purpose of parks set forth in the NPS Organic Act and each park’s enabling legislation. However, based on the recent proposed rule in Alaska, it appears that the Trump administration is hellbent on eliminating any differences whatsoever, whether conflicting or not, between NPS and state regulations. Such an approach is irrational and likely to be subject to legal challenge."

Murray explained that, in Alaska, for instance, under existing Park Service regulations non-conflicting state hunting regulations are adopted within such park units, and the same can be said of fishing regulations.

"As a result, the only time a park or a region would promulgate a special regulation to preclude any state-sanctioned hunting or fishing practice would be if certain state provisions are somehow in conflict with applicable federal laws, regulations, or policies," he said.

At the National Parks Conservation Association, Bart Melton said the Park Service's regulations on fishing and hunting in the park system are fine as is.

"NPCA believes that fish and wildlife in national parks should be protected to the highest standard of federal law. From Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area to Mojave National Preserve, more than 60 of our national park sites currently offer hunting opportunities within their boundaries and many sites offer fishing access," said Melton, the association's wildlife program director. "The National Park Service is required to follow bedrock management laws that ensure park fish and wildlife are protected. NPCA opposes any effort that would negatively impact biodiversity or attempts to force park managers to lower their standards---doing so would threaten the very purpose of America’s National Park System."